Page 53 (1/1)

In a moment, however, she had recovered froht not the sound she had heard, and the movement she had felt, both be explained by an open ? She knew she had closed and locked all the s of the roo it after the funeral, and she was not aware that anyone had been there since, yet she said to herself that perhaps one of the servants had coe She turned and looked The lower sash of the eastern --the one through which she felt sure death had approached her father--was raised to its utmost

"How fortunate," she "

She was all but fully reassured now, as she stepped to theto close it Re she raised both hands to forcibly lower it As she did so a strong arht the sash from the outer side, and a stalwart ht brought his head almost to a level with her own, despite the fact that he was standing upon the ground outside He was so near that she could feel his breath upon her face His eyes, like two great coals of fire, blazed into hers with a sinister and threatening light His countenance seenancy and to exhibit itself as a type of all the hatreds that ever poisoned human hearts

Only asensation stealing over her as the result of an ill-defined and apparently causeless dread Now an actual, imminent, and fearful peril confronted her Under such circumstances most women would have fainted, and, indeed, if Gwen had herself been asked how she would have acted under such a supreme test, she would have prophesied the saency--how little do we know of ourselves, save what actual experience has taught us!--this is precisely what she did not do When the horrible apparition first rose in her very face, as it were, ato the sash for support Then the wonderful fire of the reen, serpentine, opalescent, with the wave-like flux of a gloorlass, riveted her attention She had ceased to tremble Our fear of death varies with our desire for life Dulled by a great grief, she did not so very much care what became of her The future's burden was heavy, and if it were necessary she now put it down, there would still be a sense of relief As this thought passed like a shadow over her consciousness she felt herself irresistibly attracted to the awful face before her Her assailant's gaze seemed to have wound itself about her own till she could not disentangle it She was di under a spell and suth to break it Quick as the uncoiling of a released spring, and without the slightest ht upon the sash in a last endeavour to close the , but the ht and it, as if itsknife in his free hand,--saw the light shie it into her bosom, yet made no movement to withdraw beyond his reach and uttered no cry for help It see to another and that she herself was only a fascinated spectator She ondering whether or not the victian its descent It seeave her time to think of most of the main experiences of her life At last it paused irresolutely within an inch of her bosom She wondered that the victim made no attempt to escape, uttered no cry for help Suddenly she felt so in her brain, while a wild fluttering filled both her ears; then the swirling, fluttering torment rose in a swift and awful crescendo which see like a lightning-thrust and a crash like the thunder that goes with it, and she saw a tallrapidly from theShe was still sure it was no personal concern of hers, yet an idle curiosity noted his great height, his dark, ht halt in his walk as he passed through a narrow bea darkness