Page:Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal, t. II.djvu/177

 "I felt as if I were collapsing.

"My hand was already on the door, but before opening it I did what I suppose most people would have done. Trembling from head to foot, sick at heart, I bent down and looked through the key-hole.

"Was I dreaming—was this a dreadful nightmare?

"I stuck my nails deep into my flesh to convince myself of my self-consciousness.

"And yet I could not feel sure that I was alive and awake.

"Life at times loses its sense of reality; it appears to us like a weird, optical illusion—a phantasmagoric bubble that will disappear at the slightest breath.

"I held my breath, and looked.

"This was, then, no illusion—no vision of my over-heated fancy.

"There, on that chair—warm yet with our embraces—two beings were seated.

"But who were they?

"Perhaps Teleny had ceded his apartment to some friend for that night. Perhaps he had