Anxious to chase away if possible the morbid fancies that were fast crowding into my mind and threatening to render my sleep the reverse of pleasant, I looked around for some book to divert my thoughts, and, suddenly remembering that at the bottom of my trunk was a volume of _Pickwick_, I drew it forth, and, having raked up the fire into a cheerful blaze, was soon laughing heartily over the drolleries of that immortal work.
How long I continued turning over page after page I cannot tell; my reading was brought to a sudden stop by a scream which rang long, loud, and piercing through the corridors of the Abbey. I flung down _Pickwick_ and darted to the door to listen. The scream was repeated, and I recognized Daphne's voice.
Even in the excitement of that terrible moment a feeling of pleasure came over me. Why should Daphne, in her fear, call upon my name, unless I were the first person in her thoughts?
There was an ancient-looking sword hanging over the fireplace, and I took it down and rushed along the corridor in the direction of Daphne's voice.
Coming to the room which I knew to be hers, I dashed open the door, and saw Daphne sitting erect in bed, her eyes staring wildly around, her face and manner expressive of the extremity of terror. I at once ran to the bedside.
"Oh, Frank, don't leave me, don't leave me till some one comes!"
She followed up this appeal by a flood of tears, and clung tightly to my arm with both her hands, while staring about her on all sides.
"There's something in the room." She paused, and looked fearfully around her. "I don't know what. A black shape--a shadow. It was bending over me."
I cast a glance over the room, but nothing unusual met my eye, and I concluded she had been dreaming.
"You are dreaming, Daphne. Do not cry so. There is no one here but you and me."
All the guests, roused by the screams, had risen from their slumbers, and in various stages of dressing were thronging around the open door, becoming round-eyed as they took in the character of the scene.
"Heyday! what's the matter here?" exclaimed my uncle, entering at this juncture; and all the rest, imitating his example, entered too.
"I came because I heard Daphne calling for help," I replied.