Then she sobbed gently and said, "Oh, Cousin Malcolm, you are so old and so wise." ("Thank you," thought I, "a second Daniel come to judgment at thirty-five; or Solomon and Methuselah in one.") She continued: "Tell me, tell me, what is this terrible thing that has come upon me.

I seem to be living in a dream.

I am burning with a fever, and a heavy weight is here upon my breast.

I cannot sleep at night.

I can do nothing but long and yearn for--for I know not what--till at times it seems that some frightful, unseen monster is slowly drawing the heart out of my bosom.