another world? For a tall, dark form, muffled
apparently in a long cowl--or it might be a cloak, but Nisida was too
bewildered to discriminate aright--glided from the middle of the room
where her eyes first beheld it, and was lost to view almost as soon as
seen. Strong minded as Nisida was, indomitable as was her courage, and
far away as she was from being superstitious, yet now she staggered,
reeled, and would have fallen had she not come in contact with the
mysterious closet, against which she leaned for support. She gasped for
breath, and her eyes were fixed wildly upon the door by which the
figures had disappeared. Nevertheless, she had so far retained her
presence of mind as to grasp the lamp firmly in her hand, for at that
moment, after such a fright, in the room where her father had died, and
in the close vicinity of the fearful cabinet, even Nisida would have
fainted with terror to be left in darkness.

"'Twas imagination--naught save imagination," she thought within
herself, as she exerted all her power to surmount the alarms that had
seized upon her. "But no! I remember to have closed the door carefully
behind me, and now it is open!"

As that reminiscence and conviction flashed to her mind, she nerved
herself to advance into the passage; but all was silent, and not a soul
was there save herself. Scarcely knowing what to think, yet ashamed to
give way to superstitious fears, Nisida retraced her steps, and
proceeded to examine the door of the closet. She was satisfied that it
had never been opened since the night of her father's death; for the
seals which she had induced Francisco to place upon the lock next day
were still there. But all the while she was thus scrutinizing the door,
the lock, and the seals, she could not help occasionally casting a
furtive glance around, to convince herself that the tall, dark, muffled
form was not standing behind her: and, as she retraced her way to her
own apartments, she stopped now and then through dread that _other_
footsteps beside her own echoed in the long and lonely corridors of the
old mansion. She, however, regained her chamber in safety, and fell into
a deep reverie respecting the tall figure she had seen. Were it not for
the fact, of which she was confident, of her having closed the door on
entering the room where her father had died, she would have concluded
that her imagination had deluded her; but she now feared lest she might
be watched by spies for some unkno