ed's head. The breath
so near her pillow, that she shrunk back into it, lest those wandering
hands should light upon her face. Back again it stole to the
window--then turned its head towards her.

The dark form was a mere blot upon the lighter darkness of the room,
but she saw the turning of the head, and felt and knew how the eyes
looked and the ears listened. There it remained, motionless as she.
At length, still keeping the face towards her, it busied its hands in
something, and she heard the chink of money.

Then, on it came again, silent and stealthy as before, and replacing
the garments it had taken from the bedside, dropped upon its hands and
knees, and crawled away. How slowly it seemed to move, now that she
could hear but not see it, creeping along the floor! It reached the
door at last, and stood upon its feet. The steps creaked beneath its
noiseless tread, and it was gone.

The first impulse of the child was to fly from the terror of being by
herself in that room--to have somebody by--not to be alone--and then
her power of speech would be restored. With no consciousness of having
moved, she gained the door.

There was the dreadful shadow, pausing at the bottom of the steps.

She could not pass it; she might have done so, perhaps, in the darkness
without being seized, but her blood curdled at the thought. The figure
stood quite still, and so did she; not boldly, but of necessity; for
going back into the room was hardly less terrible than going on.

The rain beat fast and furiously without, and ran down in plashing
streams from the thatched roof. Some summer insect, with no escape
into the air, flew blindly to and fro, beating its body against the
walls and ceiling, and filling the silent place with murmurs. The
figure moved again. The child involuntarily did the same. Once in her
grandfather's room, she would be safe.

It crept along the passage until it came to the very door she longed so
ardently to reach. The child, in the agony of being so near, had
almost darted forward with the design of bursting into the room and
closing it behind her, when the figure stopped again.

The idea flashed suddenly upon her--what if it entered there, and had a
design upon the old man's life! She turned faint and sick. It did.
It went in. There was a light inside. The figure was now within the
chamber, and she, still dumb--quite dumb, and almost senseless--stood
looking on.

The door was partly open