Before I opened my eyes I felt that some one was with us in the place.

Nor was I mistaken.

A little lamp still burned in the chamber, a mere wick floating in oil, and by its light I saw a dim, ghost-like form standing near the door.

Indeed I thought almost that it was a ghost, till presently I remembered, and knew it for our corpse-like guide, who appeared to be looking intently at the bed on which Leo lay, or so I thought, for the head was bent in that direction.
At first she was quite still, then she moaned aloud, a low and terrible moan, which seemed to well from the very heart.
So the thing was not dumb, as I had believed.

Evidently it could suffer, and express its suffering in a human fashion.