nk back
unperceived, to pass the rest of the day in terror and despair. I went
to my room early that night, but I was too miserable to sleep.

At about twelve o'clock, feeling very nervous, I determined to call
my cousin Emily, who slept, you will remember, in the next room, which
communicated with mine by a second door. By this private entrance I
found my way into her chamber, and without difficulty persuaded her to
return to my room and sleep with me. We accordingly lay down together,
she undressed, and I with my clothes on, for I was every moment
walking up and down the room, and felt too nervous and miserable to
think of rest or comfort. Emily was soon fast asleep, and I lay awake,
fervently longing for the first pale gleam of morning, and reckoning
every stroke of the old clock with an impatience which made every hour
appear like six.

It must have been about one o'clock when I thought I heard a slight
noise at the partition door between Emily's room and mine, as if
caused by somebody's turning the key in the lock. I held my breath,
and the same sound was repeated at the second door of my room, that
which opened upon the lobby; the sound was here distinctly caused
by the revolution of the bolt in the lock, and it was followed by a
slight pressure upon the door itself, as if to ascertain the security
of the lock. The person, whoever it might be, was probably satisfied,
for I heard the old boards of the lobby creak and strain, as if
under the weight of somebody moving cautiously over them. My sense
of hearing became unnaturally, almost painfully acute. I suppose
the imagination added distinctness to sounds vague in themselves. I
thought that I could actually hear the breathing of the person who was
slowly returning along the lobby.

At the head of the stair-case there appeared to occur a pause; and I
could distinctly hear two or three sentences hastily whispered;
the steps then descended the stairs with apparently less caution. I
ventured to walk quickly and lightly to the lobby door, and attempted
to open it; it was indeed fast locked upon the outside, as was
also the other. I now felt that the dreadful hour was come; but one
desperate expedient remained--it was to awaken Emily, and by our
united strength, to attempt to force the partition door, which was
slighter than the other, and through this to pass to the lower part of
the house, whence it might be possible to escape to the grounds, and
so to the village.