Part 4 (2/2)
”No one but you and I!”
”You don't mean to say that they have put us in this house to sleep alone?”
”Why not? It is an adjunct to the other house, which is, besides, quite full of guests. It was so when I came.”
”And where did you sleep?”
”Here.”
”Alone?”
”Certainly.”
She looked at me with astonishment. And had my mind been sufficiently at ease I should have enjoyed her nave admiration. But it was not so; and when I saw her draw her chair up in front of the fire, and sit down immediately over that spot, I shuddered and spoke to her.
”Rachel, dear, don't sit directly in front of the fire; it is injurious to the eyes.”
She moved to one side and began to unfasten her dress preparatory to going to bed. We were now ready. But before lying down, Rachel asked me:
”Is the door secure?”
”Yes, my dear.”
”And the windows?”
”Yes.”
Not quite content with my answer, Rachel went slyly around to all the windows, and then to the door, to ascertain their security; then she searched the closets, and finally got into bed.
I soon followed her example, but found myself more sleepless than upon the preceding evening. I know not exactly how long I had lain awake, thinking of the dead proprietors, of Madeleine Van Der Vaughan, and her sad history and tragic fate (whatever they might have been), and of the stern, dark woman of my dream, and of the blood-stained floor, and trying to combine these materials into some coherent whole, when suddenly I heard the lock click back, the door swing slowly open, and a rustle, as of silken drapery, and I opened my eyes to behold the awful woman of my dream standing in the middle of the room, and pointing sternly to the blood-stained floor!
And in the very same instant that I heard and saw this, Rachel had also been awakened, and was even now asking in frightened tones:
”Who is that?”
But there was no answer.
”Who is that?” again asked the girl.
And still there was no answer.
”Who--is--that?” she reiterated, emphatically.
No answer.
”Aunt Legare!--Mathilde!--Jet!--Who is it?”
No reply. But the tall, black-robed woman standing motionless, and pointing with spectral finger to the spot on the floor!
”Oh! dear me! Agnes, Agnes!”
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