Whether midnight was approaching, or had passed, I knew not.

I was, as then, alone, and defenceless.

The wind was in that direction in which, aided by the deathlike repose of nature, it brought to me the murmur of the water-fall.

This was mingled with that solemn and enchanting sound, which a breeze produces among the leaves of pines.

The words of that mysterious dialogue, their fearful import, and the wild excess to which I was transported by my terrors, filled my imagination anew.