Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 331: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

} ' 318 had altogether ceased when I sat up, broad awake, and listened. For several minutes did I thus listen | sponded. , with suspended breath; but all continued silent, until I was made aware by a movement in the | dressing-chamber that Beda was also awake. | “ Cannot you sleep P” I inquired in a kind voice. “T was asleep, dear Miss,” she responded ; “ but —but——in short, I awoke.” “ Yes—I awoke likewise after a slumber,” I said; then consulting my watch, which lay upon a table at the side of the bed, I added, “Tt is only a little past five o’clock; and therefore we have not slept very long.” ‘Let us compose ourselves to sleep again,” an- swered Beda, — “Yes,” I said: and then silence prevailed—for I thought to myself, “Perhaps it was all imagi- nation on my part, and there was really no par- ticular sound heard?—or else Beda considers it more prudent to say nothing on the subject?” I lay down again; and at the expiration of about another half-hour I once more sank into slumber. But again was I destined to be startled up; L was once more broad awake—and there was upon my mind the impression that I had heard the same sound as before, like the gushing passage of some inyisible body through the apart- menf, or the hurricane-like rush of unseen wings. That I had been awakened in terror, was pretty certain; for not merely was the sensation in my mind, but the cold perspiration had broken out upon my forehead—and the front part of my hair felt all damp from the some effect, as I raised my hand to still the violent throbbing of my brows. My heart was palpitating furiously: I had in- deed been tremendously frightened, either in a dream or by some startling reality—I could not tell which. I listened, and all was again still for some minutes—until another movement in the next room convinced me that Beda was once more awake. This time if was she who spoke first to me; and she inquired in a voice which methought was slightly tremulous, “ Can you not sleep, dear Miss P” “T have again been asleep, Beda—and again am I awakened. And you?” “The same with me,” she responded after a- few moments’ silence—no doubt the silence of hesitation. “ Did you hear anything, Beda?” I asked She now came gliding forth from the dressing- chamber; and seating herself on the side of my bed, she fixed her superb dark eyes with inquiring earnestness upon me, saying, “ Did you hear any- thing, dear Miss ?” “Yes—methought I did,” I rejoined. “ But tell me first of all, what you fancied that you heard ?” “T can scarcely tell—I can scarcely describe it,” answered Beda: and I now observed that her bosom was palpitating quite as violently as my own had just before been doing from the furious pulsa- tions of the heart. “And yet it seemed to me,” she continued, “as if it were something like a rushing sound which passed rapidly through the room Yet I know not exactly where, or in which direction—whether it was above or below —from your room into mine, or from mine into yours——And then it ceased all in an instant.” eee de ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. “This is exactly what I fancied, Beda,” I re- . “Twice se Yes, twice, dear Miss !—both times it was the same! But on the first occasion I did not like to express what I fancied or feared, lest you should think that I was suddenly becoming a coward ——” “There was assuredly such a noise as you have described, Beda,” 1 interrupted her; “and on both occasions did I hear it as well as you. There is n0 cowardice in acknowledging that we heard the sound: the cowardice would be in imputing it to preternatural causes. No!—there are often strange noises in old buildings—timbers creaking, or suddenly bursting —rats rushing underneath the boards ** And doubtless this last explanation will serve,” ejaculated Beda, “to account for what we haye heard !” ““Yes—this is very probable,” I said. “ And now, my dear Beda, return to your own bed, and let us see if we shall be ‘permitted to obtain a few hours repose; for we were up very late, and these fitful slumbers which we have hitherto caught are tantalizing and exhausting rather than soothing or refreshing.” Beda accordingly sought her own couch; and silence again prevailed in the two chambers. But I could not again woo the presence of slumber very readily—though [I lay perfectly still to avoid disturbing Beda in case she might be more for- tunate than myself in respect to the advance of sleep. At the expiration of a short time I heard a sound as if of the rattling of something ; and I confess that the idea which at once struck me was that the noise resembled precisely what the rattling of human bones must be. I will even make another confession, and admit that a sudden terror seized upon me: it was acold tremor—the perspiration bathed my forehead lke the chill dew of death—and my heart was again palpitating vio- lently. But this paroxysm of affright quickly passed away: I grew calm and collected—I listened —there was silence for upwards of a minute—and then the sounds were renewed. They were the same as those which had just disturbed me: they seemed like the rattling of bones somewhere upon the floor, at a part to which the carpet did not ex- tend—but I could not exactly tell where. I now again raised myself in the bed and listened; and gradually the idea crept into my mind that the sounds proceeded from a cupboard in the corner of the room. I glided from the bed—I advanced to- wards that cupboard: the noise continued—but the instant my fingers touched the handle of the door to open it, the sounds ceased. “What can it possibly be?” asked the voice of Beda, who was now close behind me ; and so noise- lessly had she glided from her own chamber, that I was startled by her presence. **T cannot conceive,” I answered. been awake long, Beda?” * T have not been to sleep, Miss, since I sat by your bedside: and I more than suspected that you were remaining awake likewise.” “ And you heard those sounds, Beda?” I asked, “Yes,” she responded. “And do you know what it struck me they were like ? Methought they resembled the rattling of human bones!” “And such aiso was my fancy,” I rejoined, * Have you CORNICLOOOLK (C (EO) Le '