All at once I halted, a prey to many swift emotions, but chief of
these joy and a thrilling, hopeful expectancy, for amid the deep gloom
before me I espied a faint beam of light, and I was praying within
myself as, my gaze upon this blessed light, I descended into the
deeper shadows. Of necessity I went very slowly and cautiously until,
the trees thinning out somewhat, enabled me to make out a black
looming shape that gradually resolved itself into a barn; and it was
from the small opening or window beneath the gable that the beam of
light shone forth.
A solitary place and dismal, far removed from the world, a very
sinister place, such indeed as might well be the haunt of grisly
spectres; yet, with my gaze upturned to that beckoning light, I would
not have changed it, just then, for the most gorgeous palace in all
the world. Suddenly I halted again, my breath in check, to stare at
this dreadful place with eyes of horror, as from its impenetrable
gloom came sounds that brought out the sweat upon my temples and set
my hand quivering upon the bridle,--a succession of hollow knocks and
rappings whose dull reverberations seemed to fill the night.
For a long moment I stood thus, grasping my horse's bridle, shivering
from head to foot, and staring at the black and ominous shape before
me in wide-eyed terror; then I heard that which brought me to
myself--nay, transformed me into a cool, dispassionate, relentless
creature, reckless of all harms and dangers, intent only upon the one
desperate purpose.
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