Page:Dramas 3.pdf/6

4

It would be strange, indeed, if the daughter of Duncan Gordon were not welcome here.

How has poor Jessie been since I left you?

I have but a sorrowful account to give of her.

Had she any rest last night? Does she look as wildly as she did? Were any strange noises heard in the chamber during the night?

Ay; noises that made me start and tremble, and feel a horrid consciousness that some being or other was in the room near me, though to the natural eye invisible.

What kind of sounds were they? Why did you think they were so near you?

I was sitting by the table, with my head resting on my hand, when the door leading from the back staircase, which I am certain I had bolted in the evening, burst open.

And what followed?