he bolts, bars, and
iron-sheathed shutters.

"You see, we are rather lonely here," said the landlord. "We never have
had any attempts to break in yet, but it's always as well to be on the
safe side. When nobody is sleeping here, I am the only man in the house.
My wife and daughter are timid, and the servant girl takes after her
missuses. Another glass of ale, before you turn in?--No!--Well, how such a
sober man as you comes to be out of a place is more than I can understand
for one.--Here's where you're to sleep. You're the only lodger to-night,
and I think you'll say my missus has done her best to make you
comfortable. You're quite sure you won't have another glass of ale?--Very
well. Good night."

It was half-past eleven by the clock in the passage as we went upstairs to
the bedroom. The window looked out on the wood at the back of the house.

I locked my door, set my candle on the chest of drawers, and wearily got
me ready for bed. The bleak wind was still blowing, and the solemn,
surging moan of it in the wood was very dreary to hear through the night
silence. Feeling strangely wakeful, I resolved to keep the candle alight
until I began to grow sleepy. The truth is, I was not quite myself. I was
depressed in mind by my disappointment of the morning; and I was worn out
in body by my long walk. Between the two, I own I couldn't face the
prospect of lying awake in the darkness, listening to the dismal moan of
the wind in the wood.

Sleep stole on me before I was aware of it; my eyes closed, and I fell off
to rest, without having so much as thought of extinguishing the candle.

The next thing that I remember was a faint shivering that ran through me
from head to foot, and a dreadful sinking pain at my heart, such as I had
never felt before. The shivering only disturbed my slumbers--the pain woke
me instantly. In one moment I passed from a state of sleep to a state of
wakefulness--my eyes wide open--my mind clear on a sudden as if by a
miracle. The candle had burned down nearly to the last morsel of tallow,
but the unsnuffed wick had just fallen off, and the light was, for the
moment, fair and full.

Between the foot of the bed and the closet door, I saw a person in my
room. The person was a woman, standing looking at me, with a knife in her
hand. It does no credit to my courage to confess it--but the truth _is_
the truth. I was struck speechless with terror. There I lay with my eyes
on the woman; there the woman s