o thought, and producing no thought: the thinking
faculty seemed paralysed within me, altogether. The physical and mental
reaction, after the fever and agitation of the day, was so sudden and
severe, that the faintest noise from the street now terrified--yes,
literally terrified me. The whistling of the wind--which had risen since
sunset--made me start up in bed, with my heart throbbing, and my blood
all chill. When no sounds were audible, then I listened for them to
come--listened breathlessly, without daring to move. At last, the agony
of nervous prostration grew more than I could bear--grew worse even than
the child's horror of walking in the darkness, and sleeping alone on the
bed-room floor, which had overcome me, almost from the first moment when
I laid down. I groped my way to the table and lit the candle again; then
wrapped my dressing-gown round me, and sat shuddering near the light, to
watch the weary hours out till morning.

And this was my wedding-night! This was how the day ended which had
begun by my marriage with Margaret Sherwin!

PART II.

I.

AN epoch in my narrative has now arrived. Up to the time of my marriage,
I have appeared as an active agent in the different events I have
described. After that period, and--with one or two exceptional
cases--throughout the whole year of my probation, my position changed
with the change in my life, and became a passive one.

During this interval year, certain events happened, some of which, at
the time, excited my curiosity, but none my apprehension--some affected
me with a temporary disappointment, but none with even a momentary
suspicion. I can now look back on them, as so many timely warnings which
I treated with fatal neglect. It is in these events that the history
of the long year through which I waited to claim my wife as my own,
is really comprised. They marked the lapse of time broadly and
significantly; and to them I must now confine myself, as exclusively as
may be, in the present portion of my narrative.

It will be first necessary, however, that I should describe what was the
nature of my intercourse with Margaret, during the probationary period
which followed our marriage.

Mr. Sherwin's anxiety was to make my visits to North Villa as few as
possible: he evidently feared the consequences of my seeing his daughter
too often. But on this point, I was resolute enough in asserting my own
interests, to overpower any resistance on his part.