Surely it was phrenzy that dictated my deed.

That a ruffian was hidden in the closet, was an idea, the genuine tendency of which was to urge me to flight.

Such had been the effect formerly produced.

Had my mind been simply occupied with this thought at present, no doubt, the same impulse would have been experienced; but now it was my brother whom I was irresistably persuaded to regard as the contriver of that ill of which I had been forewarned.

This persuasion did not extenuate my fears or my danger.