e to sustain the charge of
murder; to obviate suspicions the most atrocious and plausible that the
course of human events is capable of producing.

Here I must remain till the morrow; till some one can be made to
overhear my calls and come to my deliverance. What effects will my
appearance produce on the spectator? Terrified by phantoms and stained
with blood, shall I not exhibit the tokens of a maniac as well as an
assassin?

The corpse of Watson will quickly be discovered. If, previous to this
disclosure, I should change my blood-stained garments and withdraw into
the country, shall I not be pursued by the most vehement suspicions,
and, perhaps, hunted to my obscurest retreat by the ministers of
justice? I am innocent; but my tale, however circumstantial or true,
will scarcely suffice for my vindication. My flight will be construed
into a proof of incontestable guilt.

While harassed by these thoughts, my attention was attracted by a faint
gleam cast upon the bottom of the staircase. It grew stronger, hovered
for a moment in my sight, and then disappeared. That it proceeded from a
lamp or candle, borne by some one along the passages, was no untenable
opinion, but was far less probable than that the effulgence was
meteorous. I confided in the latter supposition, and fortified myself
anew against the dread of preternatural dangers. My thoughts reverted to
the contemplation of the hazards and suspicions which flowed from my
continuance in this spot.

In the midst of my perturbed musing, my attention was again recalled by
an illumination like the former. Instead of hovering and vanishing, it
was permanent. No ray could be more feeble; but the tangible obscurity
to which it succeeded rendered it conspicuous as an electrical flash.
For a while I eyed it without moving from my place, and in momentary
expectation of its disappearance.

Remarking its stability, the propriety of scrutinizing it more nearly,
and of ascertaining the source whence it flowed, was at length
suggested. Hope, as well as curiosity, was the parent of my conduct.
Though utterly at a loss to assign the cause of this appearance, I was
willing to believe some connection between that cause and the means of
my deliverance.

I had scarcely formed the resolution of descending the stair, when my
hope was extinguished by the recollection that the cellar had narrow and
grated windows, through which light from the street might possibly have
found access. A