s, (and who shall say that a holy whisper
breathed not into her pure heart the assurance that she should pass
unscathed through the fiery furnace?) she arose with a calmer spirit,
and began to survey the apartment in which she was confined. It was a
large room, very elegantly furnished, containing a piano, and a
profusion of paintings. On examining one of these, Fanny turned away
with a burning cheek--for it was one of those immodest productions of
the French school, which show how art and talent can be perverted to the
basest uses. She looked at no more of the pictures, but went to a window
and looked out. The view from thence was not extensive, but merely
included a garden of moderate size, surrounded by a high wall; the
prospect was not a pleasant one, for instead of blooming flowers, the
appropriate divinities of such a place, nothing was to be seen but a
smooth surface of snow, relieved here and there by gaunt trees, whose
leafless branches waved mournfully in the breeze, seeming to sing a
requiem for the departed summer.

Fanny turned sadly away from this gloomy prospect, and seating herself
upon a luxurious sofa, abandoned herself to the melancholy reflections
engendered by her situation. Soon the fortitude which she had summoned
to her aid, deserted her, and as the increasing darkness of the room
betokened the approach of night, a thousand fears chilled her heart. She
was alone in that strange house--no friends were near--the treatment she
had received from the gentleman and his negro menial, indicated that
neither of them would hesitate to do her mischief, if they were so
inclined--what if they should murder her--or, dreadful thought! first
outrage, and then despatch her! While employed in such terrible
meditations as these, the darkness increased; grim shadows hovered
around, and dim but terrific shapes seemed to glide towards the
trembling girl. She groped her way towards the window, and looked
out--there was no moon, and not a star glimmered in the firmament. Soon
the darkness grew so intense, that had she held her hand close to her
eyes, she could not have seen it.

Every moment augmented her fears; and sinking down in one corner, she
pressed her hands to her aching eyes, as if to shut out some hideous
spectacle.

Not long had she been thus, when a mortal terror, to which all her other
fears were as nothing, seized her; she shivered with horror, and cold
perspiration started from every pore of her skin--