soon on his way back.

Eveline had sustained herself with the most determined and heroic fortitude
during all the trying scenes of the day, and until Duffel was gone. By a
great effort of the will to seem calm, she had kept herself from betraying
any emotions of fear while her enemies were near to observe her bearing;
but now that she was alone, the unwonted tension to which her powers of
endurance had been subjected, caused a reaction to take place; she was
overwhelmed by the flooding tides of thought and despair that rushed in
upon her. What a day of calamity it had been! What a night of rayless
darkness was before her!

She knew that she was in the hands and at the mercy of an unscrupulous
villain, who was incapable of performing a noble or magnanimous act, but
base enough to resort to any means in the use of which to carry an end, or
gain a point. She but too well knew the fate before her, if no means of
resistance were placed in her hands; and where to find these she knew not.
She was, as we said, overwhelmed with dismay. But gradually, as she had
time to reflect, to collect her thoughts, and form resolves, she began to
grow calm. There was a strength in firmness of will which could surmount
many difficulties. It was, indeed, a kind of wall of defense about her,
which might materially aid her in the contest she clearly saw before her,
with her unprincipled enemy. He was, she knew, like all villains, a coward,
and she determined, among other things, to operate upon his fears.

It might be supposed that she would feel little like sleep under the
circumstances by which she was surrounded; but having overheard part of an
aside conversation between Duffel and his confederates, in which he
mentioned meeting them at some place designated, and about something to be
done on the morrow, she felt assured of what she could not have been
certain on his own word merely, that he had business which would detain him
until the next day, and, consequently, would not return to molest her for
the present. She retired to the inner room, locked and bolted the door,
(she had not expected to find a bolt on the inside, and the fact that there
was one gave her a feeling of greater security,) then knelt down and
offered up a fervent prayer to heaven for protection, for shielding care
and final deliverance; after which she laid down, and composed herself to
rest. Her slumbers were peaceful and undisturbed, attended with pleasant
dreams; and s