Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/118

 possibility of concealing that it had been opened. This discovery threw me into some confusion: I had been tempted thus far by the belief that my action was without witnesses, and might be for ever concealed; this opinion was now confuted; if Clithero should ever reclaim his property, he would not fail to detect the violence of which I had been guilty; Inglefield would disapprove in another what he had not permitted to himself, and the unauthorised and clandestine manner in which I had behaved, would aggravate in his eyes the heinousness of my offence.

But now there was no remedy; all that remained was to hinder suspicion from lighting on the innocent, and to confess to my friend the offence which I had committed. Meanwhile, my first project was resumed, and the family being now wrapt in profound sleep, I left my chamber, and proceeded to the elm. The moon was extremely brilliant; but I hoped that this unfrequented road and unseasonable hour would hinder me from being observed. My chamber was above the kitchen, with which it communicated by a small staircase, and the building to which it belonged was connected with the dwelling by a gallery. I extinguished the light, and left it in the kitchen, intending to relight it by the embers that still glowed on the hearth, on my return.

I began to remove the sod, and cast out the earth, with little confidence in the success of my project; the issue of my examination of the box humbled and disheartened me: for some time I found nothing that tended to invigorate my hopes: I determined, however, to descend, as long as the unsettled condition of the earth showed me that some one had preceded me. Small masses of stone were occasionally met with, which served only to perplex me with groundless expectations: at length my spade struck upon something which emitted a very different sound; I quickly drew it forth, and found it to be wood. Its regular form, and the crevices which were faintly discernible, persuaded me that it was human workmanship, and that there was a cavity within. The place in which it was found easily suggested some connection between this and the destiny of Clithero. Covering up the hole with speed, I hastened with my prize