I was wakened,after having slept uneasily for some hours,by some person shaking me rudely by the shoulder;a small lamp burned in my room,and by its light,to my horror and amazement,I discovered that my visitant was the self-same blind old lady who had so terrified me a few weeks before.
I started up in the bed,with a view to ring the bell,and alarm the domestics;but she instantly anticipated me by saying:
'Do not be frightened,silly girl!If I had wished to harm you I could have done it while you were sleeping;I need not have wakened you.Listen to me,now,attentively and fearlessly,for what I have to say interests you to the full as much as it does me.Tell me here,in the presence of God,did Lord Glenfallen marry you--ACTUALLYMARRY you?Speak the truth,woman.'
'As surely as I live and speak,'I replied,'did Lord Glenfallen marry me,in presence of more than a hundred witnesses.'
'Well,'continued she,'he should have told you THEN,before you married him,that he had a wife living,which wife I am.Ifeel you tremble--tush!do not be frightened.
I do not mean to harm you.Mark me now--you are NOT his wife.When Imake my story known you will be so neither in the eye of God nor of man.You must leave this house upon to-morrow.
Let the world know that your husband has another wife living;go you into retirement,and leave him to justice,which will surely overtake him.If you remain in this house after to-morrow you will reap the bitter fruits of your sin.'
So saying,she quitted the room,leaving me very little disposed to sleep.
Here was food for my very worst and most terrible suspicions;still there was not enough to remove all doubt.I had no proof of the truth of this woman's statement.
Taken by itself,there was nothing to induce me to attach weight to it;but when I viewed it in connection with the extraordinary mystery of some of Lord Glen-fallen's proceedings,his strange anxiety to exclude me from certain portions of the mansion,doubtless lest I should encounter this person--the strong influence,nay,command which she possessed over him,a circumstance clearly established by the very fact of her residing in the very place where,of all others,he should least have desired to find her--her thus acting,and continuing to act in direct contradiction to his wishes;when,I say,I viewed her disclosure in connection with all these circumstances,I could not help feeling that there was at least a fearful verisimilitude in the allegations which she had made.
Still I was not satisfied,nor nearly so.
Young minds have a reluctance almost insurmountable to believing,upon anything short of unquestionable proof,the existence of premeditated guilt in anyone whom they have ever trusted;and in support of this feeling I was assured that if the assertion of Lord Glenfallen,which nothing in this woman's manner had led me to disbelieve,were true,namely that her mind was unsound,the whole fabric of my doubts and fears must fall to the ground.
I determined to state to Lord Glenfallen freely and accurately the substance of the communication which I had just heard,and in his words and looks to seek for its proof or refutation.Full of these thoughts,Iremained wakeful and excited all night,every moment fancying that I heard the step or saw the figure of my recent visitor,towards whom I felt a species of horror and dread which I can hardly describe.
There was something in her face,though her features had evidently been handsome,and were not,at first sight,unpleasing,which,upon a nearer inspection,seemed to indicate the habitual prevalence and indulgence of evil passions,and a power of expressing mere animal anger,with an intenseness that I have seldom seen equalled,and to which an almost unearthly effect was given by the convulsive quivering of the sightless eyes.
You may easily suppose that it was no very pleasing reflection to me to consider that,whenever caprice might induce her to return,I was within the reach of this violent and,for aught I knew,insane woman,who had,upon that very night,spoken to me in a tone of menace,of which her mere words,divested of the manner and look with which she uttered them,can convey but a faint idea.
Will you believe me when I tell you that I was actually afraid to leave my bed in order to secure the door,lest I should again encounter the dreadful object lurking in some corner or peeping from behind the window-curtains,so very a child was Iin my fears.
The morning came,and with it Lord Glenfallen.I knew not,and indeed I cared not,where he might have been;my thoughts were wholly engrossed by the terrible fears and suspicions which my last night's conference had suggested to me.
He was,as usual,gloomy and abstracted,and I feared in no very fitting mood to hear what I had to say with patience,whether the charges were true or false.
I was,however,determined not to suffer the opportunity to pass,or Lord Glenfallen to leave the room,until,at all hazards,I had unburdened my mind.
'My lord,'said I,after a long silence,summoning up all my firmness--'my lord,I wish to say a few words to you upon a matter of very great importance,of very deep concernment to you and to me.'
I fixed my eyes upon him to discern,if possible,whether the announcement caused him any uneasiness;but no symptom of any such feeling was perceptible.
'Well,my dear,'said he,'this is no doubt a very grave preface,and portends,I have no doubt,something extraordinary.
Pray let us have it without more ado.'
He took a chair,and seated himself nearly opposite to me.
'My lord,'said I,'I have seen the person who alarmed me so much a short time since,the blind lady,again,upon last night.'His face,upon which my eyes were fixed,turned pale;he hesitated for a moment,and then said:
'And did you,pray,madam,so totally forget or spurn my express command,as to enter that portion of the house from which your promise,I might say your oath,excluded you?--answer me that!'he added fiercely.