She quickened her pace here, as though distrustful of being stopped, and robbed of such trifling property as she carried with her.

He crept along on the other side of the road.

Had she been gifted with the speed of wind, it seemed as if his terrible shadow would have tracked her down.
At length the widow--for she it was--reached her own door, and, panting for breath, paused to take the key from her basket.

In a flush and glow, with the haste she had made, and the pleasure of being safe at home, she stooped to draw it out, when, raising her head, she saw him standing silently beside her: the apparition of a dream.
His hand was on her mouth, but that was needless, for her tongue clove to its roof, and her power of utterance was gone.

'I have been looking for you many nights.