Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/234

 empty. Your uncle and sisters were made acquainted with this circumstance: their surprise gave way to conjectures that your restless and romantic spirit had tempted you from your repose; that you had rambled abroad on some fantastic errand, and would probably return before the dawn. I willingly acquiesced in this opinion; and my feelings being too thoroughly aroused to allow me to sleep, I took possession of your chamber, and patiently awaited your return.

"The morning returned, but Huntly made not his appearance. Your uncle became somewhat uneasy at this unseasonable absence. Much speculation and enquiry, as to the possible reasons of your flight, were made. In my survey of your chamber, I noted that only part of your clothing remained beside your bed: coat, hat, stockings, and shoes, lay upon the spot where they had probably been thrown when you had disrobed yourself; but the pantaloons, which, according to Mr. Huntly's report, completed your dress, were nowhere to be found. That you should go forth on so cold a night so slenderly apparelled, was almost incredible: your reason or your senses had deserted you, before so rash an action could be meditated.

"I now remembered the person I had met in Norwalk: his resemblance to your figure—his garb, which wanted hat, coat, stockings, and shoes—and your absence from your bed at that hour—were remarkable coincidences. But why did you disregard my call? Your name uttered by a voice that could not be unknown, was surely sufficient to arrest your steps.

"Each hour added to the impatience of your friends: to their recollections and conjectures I listened with a view to extract from them some solution of this mystery. At length a story was alluded to, of some one who, on the preceding night, had been heard walking in the long room; to this was added the tale of your anxieties and wonders occasioned by the loss of certain manuscripts.

"While ruminating upon these incidents, and endeavouring to extract from this intelligence a clue explanatory of your present situation, a single word, casually dropped by your uncle, instantly illuminated my darkness and dispelled my doubts.—'After all,' said the old man, 'ten to