But one trivial event had happened during the interval while she had been asleep.

The night-light had gone out; and the room, as a matter of course, was in total darkness.
She felt for the match-box, and paused after finding it.

A vague sense of confusion was still in her mind.

She was in no hurry to light the match.

The pause in the darkness was, for the moment, agreeable to her.
In the quieter flow of her thoughts during this interval, she could ask herself the natural question:--What cause had awakened her so suddenly, and had so strangely shaken her nerves?
Had it been the influence of a dream?
She had not dreamed at all--or, to speak more correctly, she had no waking remembrance of having dreamed.