Here was food for my very worst and most terrible suspicions; still
there was not enough to remove all doubt. I had no proof of the truth
of this woman's statement. Taken by itself there was nothing to induce
me to attach weight to it; but when I viewed it in connection with the
extraordinary mystery of some of Lord Glenfallen's proceedings, his
strange anxiety to exclude me from certain portions of the mansion,
doubtless, lest I should encounter this person--the strong influence,
nay, command, which she possessed over him, a circumstance clearly
established by the very fact of her residing in the very place, where
of all others, he should least have desired to find her--her thus
acting, and continuing to act in direct contradiction to his wishes;
when, I say, I viewed her disclosure in connection with all these
circumstances, I could not help feeling that there was at least a
fearful verisimilitude in the allegations which she had made. Still I
was not satisfied, nor nearly so; young minds have a reluctance almost
insurmountable to believing upon any thing short of unquestionable
proof, the existence of premeditated guilt in any one whom they have
ever trusted; and in support of this feeling I was assured that if the
assertion of Lord Glenfallen, which nothing in this woman's manner had
led me to disbelieve, were true, namely, that her mind was unsound,
the whole fabric of my doubts and fears must fall to the ground.
I determined to state to Lord Glenfallen freely and accurately the
substance of the communication which I had just heard, and in his
words and looks to seek for its proof or refutation; full of these
thoughts I remained wakeful and excited all night, every moment
fancying that I heard the step, or saw the figure of my recent visitor
towards whom I felt a species of horror and dread which I can hardly
describe. There was something in her face, though her features had
evidently been handsome, and were not, at first sight, unpleasing,
which, upon a nearer inspection, seemed to indicate the habitual