Some one rises with noiseless steps to turn the glass.
With a shriek that might have arrested the departing spirit, I sprang forward and fell senseless on the floor.
I remember nothing that passed during the day.

I was told afterwards, that when I recovered from the fainting fit, the doctor, apprehensive of spasms, gave me a powerful anodyne to quiet my tortured nerves.

When I became conscious of what was passing around me, the moon was shining on the bed where I lay, and the shadow of the softly rustling leaves quivering on the counterpane.

I was alone, but I heard low, murmuring voices in the next room, and there was a light there more dim and earthly than the pale splendor that enveloped me.

I leaned forward on my elbow and looked beyond the open door.