sound
of a struggle, and I knew that the attendants were dealing with him.
I was so frightened that I crept into bed, and pulled the clothes over
my head, putting my fingers in my ears. I was not then a bit sleepy,
at least so I thought, but I must have fallen asleep, for except
dreams, I do not remember anything until the morning, when Jonathan
woke me. I think that it took me an effort and a little time to
realize where I was, and that it was Jonathan who was bending over me.
My dream was very peculiar, and was almost typical of the way that
waking thoughts become merged in, or continued in, dreams.

I thought that I was asleep, and waiting for Jonathan to come back. I
was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act, my feet, and
my hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at
the usual pace. And so I slept uneasily and thought. Then it began
to dawn upon me that the air was heavy, and dank, and cold. I put
back the clothes from my face, and found, to my surprise, that all was
dim around. The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but
turned down, came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which
had evidently grown thicker and poured into the room. Then it
occurred to me that I had shut the window before I had come to bed. I
would have got out to make certain on the point, but some leaden
lethargy seemed to chain my limbs and even my will. I lay still and
endured, that was all. I closed my eyes, but could still see through
my eyelids. (It is wonderful what tricks our dreams play us, and how
conveniently we can imagine.) The mist grew thicker and thicker and I
could see now how it came in, for I could see it like smoke, or with
the white energy of boiling water, pouring in, not through the window,
but through the joinings of the door. It got thicker and thicker,
till it seemed as if it became concentrated into a sort of pillar of
cloud in the room, through the top of which I could see the light of
the gas shining like a red eye. Things began to whirl through my
brain just as the cloudy column was now whirling in the room, and
through it all came the scriptural words "a pillar of cloud by day and
of fire by night." Was it indeed such spiritual guidance that was
coming to me in my sleep? But the pillar was composed of both the day
and the night guiding, for the fire was in the red eye, which at the
thought got a new fascination for me, till, as I looked, the fire