Major spoilers for The Mezzotint by M. R. James, from his 1904 collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, follow.
At two points in the story, witnesses observe a figure in the titular engraving. Its dress is described as follows:
It was crawling on all-fours towards the house, and it was muffled in a strange black garment with a white cross on the back.
And then later:
The moon was behind it, and the black drapery hung down over its face so that only hints of that could be seen ... The legs of the appearance alone could be plainly discerned, and they were horribly thin.
It is interesting to me that this garment is described as "strange". It transpires that the figure is that of a poacher who was hung and buried in the early 1800s and it certainly doesn't sound like the kind of burial shroud that might have been used in that era, as I believe these were usually white. We can also tell from the description that the garment muffles most of the face but leaves the legs bare, which again doesn't sound much like a burial shroud.
Perhaps it is just a literary device but I feel like the description of "strange" is pointing the reader toward the oddness of the clothing. Does it have any additional significance in literary or historical terms?
