Page:Long pack, or, A shot with Copenhagen (2).pdf/5

 thing in the press, indeed she never looked into it, for her eyes were fixed on the pack, and the longer she looked at it, she liked it the worse; and as to handling it, she would not have touched it for all that it contained. She came again into the kitchen and conversed with herself. She thought of the man's earnestness to leave it—of its monstrous shape, and every circumstance connected with it—They were all mysterious, and she was convinced in her own mind, that there was something uncanny if not unearthly in the pack.

What surmises will not fear give rise to in the mind of a woman! She lighted a moulded candle, and went again into the parlour, closed the window shutters, and barred them; but before she came out, she set herself upright, held in her breath, and took another steady and scrutinizing look of the pack. God of mercy! she saw it moving, as visibly as she ever saw any thing in her life Every hair on her head stood upright. Every inch of flesh on her body crept like a nest of pismires. She listed into the kitchen as fast as she could, for her knees bent under the terror that had overwhelmed the heart of poor Alice. She puffed out the candle, lighted it again, and, not being able to find a candlestick, though a dozen stood on the shelf in the fore kitehenkitchen [sic], she set it in a water-jug, and ran out to the barn for old Richard "Oh, RiehardRichard [sic]! Oh, for mercy, Richard, make haste, and come into the house. Come away, EichardRichard [sic]." "Why, what is the matter, AlieeAlice [sic]? what is wrong?" "Oh, Richard! a pedlar came into the hall entreating for lodgings