ead stole over her mind: she heard no steps, she felt no breath, she
saw no form; but there was a strange consciousness that she was not
alone--that some unseen being was near, some eye was upon her. I
have heard of sleepers starting from sleep the most profound when the
noiseless hand of the assassin has been raised to destroy them, as if
the power of the human eye could be felt through the closed lid.

Thus fared it with Catharine: she felt as if some unseen enemy was
near her; and, springing to her feet, she cast a wild, troubled glance
around. No living being met her eye; and, ashamed of her cowardice, she
resumed her seat. The tremulous cry of her little grey squirrel, a pet
which she had tamed and taught to run to her and nestle in her bosom,
attracted her attention.

"What aileth thee, wee dearie?" she said, tenderly, as the timid little
creature crept, trembling, to her breast. "Thy mistress has scared thee
by her own foolish fears. See now, there is neither cat-a-mount nor
weasel here to seize thee, silly one;" and as she spoke she raised her
head, and flung back the thick clusters of soft fair hair that shaded
her eyes. The deadly glare of a pair of dark eyes fixed upon her met
her terrified gaze, gleaming with sullen ferocity from the angle of the
door-post, whence the upper part of the face alone was visible, partly
concealed by a mat of tangled, shaggy, black hair. Paralysed with fear,
the poor girl neither spoke nor moved; she uttered no cry; but pressing
her hands tightly across her breast, as if to still the loud beating
of her heart, she sat gazing upon that fearful appearance, while, with
stealthy step, the savage advanced from his lurking-place, keeping,
as he did so, his eyes riveted upon hers, with such a gaze as the wily
serpent is said to fascinate his prey. His hapless victim moved not;
whither could she flee to escape one whose fleet foot could so easily
have overtaken her in the race? where conceal herself from him whose
wary eye fixed upon her seemed to deprive her of all vital energy?

Uttering that singular, expressive guttural which seems with the Indian
to answer the purpose of every other exclamation, he advanced, and
taking the girl's ice-cold hands in his, tightly bound them with a thong
of deer's hide, and led her unresistingly away. By a circuitous path
through the ravine they reached the foot of the mount, where lay a birch
canoe, rocking gently on the waters, in which a middle-aged