the dense shadows of
the maples, and glanced hurriedly around him. Satisfied with his
investigation, he ventured to the window, and peered cautiously into
the chamber, but seeing nothing to excite his fears, gently raised the
sash, and leaped into the apartment. The moon shone so brightly that
he had no occasion to strike a light, but its silver disc was fast
verging toward the horizon, and warned him to haste, else be left to
return in darkness. Fumbling in his coat-pocket, he at length produced
a large bunch of keys, and stooping down, applied one to the heavy
oaken chest beneath the window-sill. Fortunately it suited the lock;
the bolt turned without difficulty, and he lifted the massive lid,
which he upheld with one hand, while he rummaged the till with the
other. At this moment a slight rustling reached his ears from the
furthest corner of the apartment from the window.

"What the deuce is that?" exclaimed he, starling up from his kneeling
posture, and turning anxiously in the direction whence the disturbance
had proceeded, at the same time thoughtlessly relinquishing his grasp
of the lid, which fell with a heavy crash upon the arm still resting
beneath.

"Furies!" shouted he, writhing in agony, and releasing the bruised
member from its painful position.

At these words a faint scream of terror issued from the bed which
stood only a few feet distant. Mary White had been awakened by his
outcry, and starting up in alarm, beheld a man standing by the window,
which occasioned the involuntary exclamation that had just burst from
her lips. She had sat up until quite late, every moment expecting the
young lady who was to have been her companion for the night; and then
the convulsions of the tempest had kept her wakeful, and prevented her
retiring. The tedium of the hours becoming irksome, she had sauntered
into her mother's chamber, and opened the window to gaze out upon the
lulling war of the elements; but growing wearied of this employment,
and a drowsiness stealing over her, she had flung herself upon the
bed, and almost immediately sunk into a refreshing slumber, from which
the late disturbances in the apartment had just awakened her. The
first impulse that entered her mind was to gain the door and escape,
but her nature was one on which fear acts as a sudden paralysis. All
power of volition deserted her; and she stood motionless as carved
marble, with her eyes glaring, and her finger pointed toward the spot
wher