prevalence and indulgence of evil passions, and a power of expressing
mere animal anger, with an intenseness that I have seldom seen
equalled, and to which an almost unearthly effect was given by the
convulsive quivering of the sightless eyes. You may easily suppose
that it was no very pleasing reflection to me to consider, that
whenever caprice might induce her to return, I was within the reach of
this violent, and, for aught I knew, insane woman, who had, upon that
very night, spoken to me in a tone of menace, of which her mere words,
divested of the manner and look with which she uttered them, can
convey but a faint idea. Will you believe me when I tell you that I
was actually afraid to leave my bed in order to secure the door, lest
I should again encounter the dreadful object lurking in some corner or
peeping from behind the window curtains, so very a child was I in my
fears.

The morning came, and with it Lord Glenfallen. I knew not, and
indeed I cared not, where he might have been; my thoughts were wholly
engrossed by the terrible fears and suspicions which my last
night's conference had suggested to me; he was, as usual, gloomy and
abstracted, and I feared in no very fitting mood to hear what I had
to say with patience, whether the charges were true or false. I was,
however, determined not to suffer the opportunity to pass, or Lord
Glenfallen to leave the room, until, at all hazards, I had unburdened
my mind.

"My Lord," said I, after a long silence, summoning up all my firmness,
"my lord, I wish to say a few words to you upon a matter of very great
importance, of very deep concernment to you and to me." I fixed my
eyes upon him to discern, if possible, whether the announcement
caused him any uneasiness, but no symptom of any such feeling was