vampyre's embrace, and where she would be within hail
of friendly hearts, who would stand boldly between her and every thought
of harm.

But she knew it not, and onwards she went until the very hem of her
garment touched the face of Sir Francis Varney.

And he was terrified--he dared not move--he dared not speak! The idea
that she had died, and that this was her spirit, come to wreak some
terrible vengeance upon him, for a time possessed him, and so paralysed
with fear was he, that he could neither move nor speak.

It had been well if, during that trance of indecision in which his
coward heart placed him, Flora had left the place, and again sought her
home; but unhappily such an impulse came not over her; she sat upon that
rustic seat, where she had reposed when Charles had clasped her to his
heart, and through her very dream the remembrance of that pure affection
came across her, and in the tenderest and most melodious accents, she
said,--

"Charles! Charles! and do you love me still? No--no; you have not
forsaken me. Save me, save me from the vampyre!"

She shuddered, and Sir Francis Varney heard her weeping.

"Fool that I am," he muttered, "to be so terrified. She sleeps. This is
one of the phases which a disordered imagination oft puts on. She
sleeps, and perchance this may be an opportunity of further increasing
the dread of my visitation, which shall make Bannerworth Hall far too
terrible a dwelling-place for her; and well I know, if she goes, they
will all go. It will become a deserted house, and that is what I want. A
house, too, with such an evil reputation, that none but myself, who have
created that reputation, will venture within its walls:--a house, which
superstition will point out as the abode of evil spirits;--a house, as
it were, by general opinion, ceded to the vampyre. Yes, it shall be my
own; fit dwelling-place for a while for me. I have sworn it shall be
mine, and I will keep my oath, little such as I have to do with vows."

He rose, and moved slowly to the narrow entrance of the summer-house; a
movement he could make, without at all disturbing Flora, for the rustic
seat, on which she sat, was at its further extremity. And there he
stood, the upper part of his gaunt and hideous form clearly defined upon
the now much lighter sky, so that if Flora Bannerworth had not been in
that trance of sleep in which she really was, one glance upward would
let her see the hideous companion she had, in that