622 The Dark Figure : [Dec. 



alarmed on hearing a noise at midnight in his apartment, she had crept 

 out of bed, and stood listening at the keyhole — how, on receiving no 

 answer to her questions, she had called up the footman — and how he 



had burst open the door — and " Lights, lights !" cried I, " for pity's 



sake ;" and the housekeeper, bethinking herself that my journey must 

 have given me an appetite, bustled away to order supper — returning, 

 however, to say, that if, when retired to my room, I would take the 

 trouble of turning up the corner of the carpet next the bed, I might see 

 the marks still extant on the floor. * 



I did not sleep too well that night ; which might be owing to the 

 circumstance of my having a pair of candles burning in the room. A 

 great part of the following day I spent in lounging on a sofa, and think- 

 ing of returning to London. The afternoon, however, approached 

 before any thing had been decided on ; and feeling myself to be the 

 martyr of circumstances — a captive in the inevitable chain of events — I 

 resigned myself with dogged resolution to my fate. 



The shadow of tlie tall trees of the avenue, marching stealthily but 

 steadily along, threw an early twilight into the room ; the effect of which 

 could hardly be said to be counteracted by the fire, consisting of a few 

 pale embers struggling for life beneath a mountain of ashes. This, it 

 may be said, was my own fault ; I might have rung for fuel : true, but I 

 had been thinking, for the last half hour, that somebody would come 

 into the room of his own accord, which would have saved me all the 

 trouble. As it was, the sulky smile of the health was more repulsive 

 than absolute blackness ; and the moving shadow, as it crawled slowly 

 along, swallowing up my ancestors one by one, who stared at me from 

 the walls, gave the idea of a supernatural procession like the line of 

 Banquo kings. I watched the solemn cortege with a kind of curiosity 

 mingled with awe, till my suicidal uncle, whose post was above the 

 mantel-piece, had stretched his hand into the shade, fixing his eyes sig- 

 nificantly on mine — and I started from my chair with a sudden catching 

 of the breath, as I inquired involuntarily, ivhose turn is next ? 



The scene without, when'vicAved from a window, was absolutely in- 

 viting, compared with the interior. The rays of the sun still lingered in 

 the distance among the leaves ; and, like the farewell of lovers, became 

 more melting and tender as the moment of parting approached : but a 

 smooth round hill, seen through a vista among the trees, more particu- 

 larly attracted my attention. Its head was encircled with an unbroken 

 halo of light, as if the messengers of the Lord of day had chosen it for 

 their rendesvouz on the earth ; while the tall centinels of the forest, 

 skirting its base, guarded the sacred spot from intrusion. A kind of 

 longing arose in my bosom as I gazed ; and this was mysteriously linked, 

 as our longings always are, whether we ai'e conscious of it or not, with 

 recollections of the past Those cloistered hours came back upon my 

 soul, when my Alma JMater was propitious, and Leonora kind ; the hill 

 of the setting sun, to my excited imagination, became an island of the 

 blest ; and, in a fit of unwonted enthusiasm, I salUed forth on a pilgri- 

 mage towards it, repeating aloud, as I walked, the strain of the Latin 

 bard: — 



" Nos manet oceanus circumvagus ; arva, beata, 

 " Petamus arva, divitis et insulas — " 



My path lay through silent fields, and along half obliterated foot- 

 paths, — and over churlish turnstiles 



