My heart sunk anew on viewing the inextricable complexity of this deception, and the inauspicious concurrence of events, which tended to confirm him in his error.

When he approached my chamber door, my terror kept me mute.

He put his ear, perhaps, to the crevice, but it caught the sound of nothing human.

Had I called, or made any token that denoted some one to be within, words would have ensued; and as omnipresence was impossible, this discovery, and the artless narrative of what had just passed, would have saved me from his murderous invectives.

He went into his chamber, and after some interval, I stole across the entry and down the stairs, with inaudible steps.