ad observed the
figure of a man pass by, and now, as she gained the window, she saw him
halt by the porch, and recognised the formidable Stranger. Presently the
bell sounded, and the old woman, familiar with its shrill sound, rose
from her kneeling position beside the sufferer to attend to the summons.
Ellinor sprang forward and detained her: the poor old woman stared at
her in amazement, wholly unable to comprehend her abrupt gestures
and her rapid language. It was with considerable difficulty and after
repeated efforts, that she at length impressed the dulled sense of the
crone with the nature of their alarm, and the expediency of refusing
admittance to the Stranger. Meanwhile, the bell had rung again,--again,
and the third time with a prolonged violence which testified the
impatience of the applicant. As soon as the good dame had satisfied
herself as to Ellinor's meaning, she could no longer be accused of
unreasonable taciturnity; she wrung her hands and poured forth a volley
of lamentations and fears, which effectually relieved Ellinor from the
dread of her unheeding the admonition. Satisfied at having done thus
much, Ellinor now herself hastened to the door and secured the ingress
with an additional bolt, and then, as the thought flashed upon her,
returned to the old woman and made her, with an easier effort than
before, now that her senses were sharpened by fear, comprehend the
necessity of securing the back entrance also; both hastened away to
effect this precaution, and Madeline, who herself desired Ellinor to
accompany the old woman, was left alone. She kept her eyes fixed on
the window with a strange sentiment of dread at being thus left in so
helpless a situation; and though a door of no ordinary dimensions and
doubly locked interposed between herself and the intruder, she expected
in breathless terror, every instant, to see the form of the ruffian
burst into the apartment. As she thus sat and looked, she shudderingly
saw the man, tired perhaps of repeating a summons so ineffectual, come
to the window and look pryingly within: their eyes met; Madeline had
not the power to shriek. Would he break through the window? that was her
only idea, and it deprived her of words, almost of sense. He gazed upon
her evident terror for a moment with a grim smile of contempt; he then
knocked at the window, and his voice broke harshly on a silence yet more
dreadful than the interruption.

"Ho, ho! so there is some life stirrin