Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/84

 entered, totally regardless of disturbing the girl who slept within. The bed which she occupied was concealed by curtains. Whether she were there I did not stop to examine: I cannot recollect that any tokens were given of wakefulness or alarm. It was not till I reached the door of her own apartment that my heart began to falter.

"It was not that the momentousness of the question I was about to decide rushed with its genuine force upon my apprehension. Appalled and aghast, I had scarcely power to move the bolt. If the imagination of her death was not to be supported, how should I bear the spectacle of wounds and blood? Yet this was reserved for me. A few paces would set me in the midst of a scene of which I was the abhorred contriver.—Was it right to proceed? There were still the remnants of doubt: my forebodings might possibly be groundless; all within might be safety and serenity; a respite might be gained from the execution of an irrevocable sentence. What could I do? Was not any thing easy to endure in comparison with the agonies of suspense? If I could not obviate the evil, I must bear it; but the torments of suspense were susceptible of remedy.

"I drew back the bolt, and entered with the reluctance of fear rather than the cautiousness of guilt. I could not lift my eyes from the ground. I advanced to the middle of the room. Not a sound like that of the dying saluted my car. At length, shaking off the fetters of h0pelessness, I looked up.

"I saw nothing calculated to confirm my fears: every where there reigned quiet and order. My heart leaped with exultation. Can it be, said I, that I have been betrayed with shadows?—But this is not sufficient.

"Within an alcove was the bed that belonged to her: if her safety were inviolate, it was here that she reposed. What remained to convert tormenting doubt into ravishing certainty? I was insensible to the perils of my present situation. If she indeed were there, would not my intrusion awaken her? She would start, and perceive me at this hour standing at her bedside. How should I account for an intrusion so unexampled and audacious? I could not communicate my fears; I could not tell her that the blood