Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/343

 It was almost dark when I reached the little back-gate of my park, where I alighted, opened the door with my master-key, tied the horse to a tree, resolved to send a servant to lead him to the stable, and advanced through the myrtle grove towards my mansion, which I entered seemingly unperceived.

In my spouse's bed-room, which opened upon the garden, there was no light, and a deadly stillness reigned all over the place. I thought she had already gone to rest, but on getting up stairs, I could hear a great deal of bustling in the kitchen, and to and fro in the apartment.

I do not know what made me steal so slily into the house. Whether it was mere curiosity to see how my family affairs were conducted in my absence; or whether the human mind harbors certain secret presentiments respecting futurity, enough. I shook and trembled like an aspen-leaf without knowing why. Every moment I dreaded a discovery of some unpleasant object. Still I recollected myself, and was just on the