Could it be so?
"Alas! no," presently said Foreboding.

At last I became ashamed of my weakness.

The letter must be opened sooner or later.

Why not at once?
So as the bather who, for a considerable time, has stood shivering on the bank, afraid to take the decisive plunge, suddenly takes it, I tore open the letter almost before I was aware.

I had no sooner done so than a paper fell out.