e
you instantly, and has sent me to receive your commands."

"Your _wife_! I want Mrs. Fielding."

"True; and Mrs. Fielding is my wife. Thank Heaven, I have come in time
to discover her, and claim her as such."

I started back. I shuddered. My joints slackened, and I stretched my
hand to catch something by which I might be saved from sinking on the
floor. Meanwhile, Fielding changed his countenance into rage and fury.
He called me villain! bade me avaunt! and drew a shining steel from his
bosom, with which he stabbed me to the heart. I sunk upon the floor, and
all, for a time, was darkness and oblivion! At length, I returned as it
were to life. I opened my eyes. The mists disappeared, and I found
myself stretched upon the bed in my own chamber. I remembered the fatal
blow I had received. I put my hand upon my breast; the spot where the
dagger entered. There were no traces of a wound. All was perfect and
entire. Some miracle had made me whole.

I raised myself up. I re-examined my body. All around me was hushed,
till a voice from the pavement below proclaimed that it was "past three
o'clock."

"What!" said I; "has all this miserable pageantry, this midnight
wandering, and this ominous interview, been no more than--_a dream_?"

It may be proper to mention, in explanation of this scene, and to show
the thorough perturbation of my mind during this night, intelligence
gained some days after from Eliza. She said, that about two o'clock, on
this night, she was roused by a violent ringing of the bell. She was
startled by so unseasonable a summons. She slept in a chamber adjoining
Mrs. Fielding's, and hesitated whether she should alarm her friend; but,
the summons not being repeated, she had determined to forbear.

Added to this, was the report of Mrs. Stevens, who, on the same night,
about half an hour after I and her husband had retired, imagined that
she heard the street door opened and shut; but, this being followed by
no other consequence, she supposed herself mistaken. I have little doubt
that, in my feverish and troubled sleep, I actually went forth, posted
to the house of Mrs. Fielding, rung for admission, and shortly after
returned to my own apartment.

This confusion of mind was somewhat allayed by the return of light. It
gave way to more uniform but not less rueful and despondent perceptions.
The image of Achsa filled my fancy, but it was the harbinger of nothing
but humiliation and sorrow. To outroot the con