but the furniture which belonged to the room, and yet he could not be
deceived as to the fact that something had moved before them into the
chamber. A sickening dread came upon him, and the cold perspiration
broke out in heavy drops upon his forehead; nor was he more composed,
when he heard the increased urgency and agony of entreaty, with which
Rose implored them not to leave her for a moment.

"I saw him," said she; "he's here. I cannot be deceived; I know him;
he's by me; he is with me; he's in the room. Then, for God's sake, as
you would save me, do not stir from beside me."

They at length prevailed upon her to lie down upon the bed, where she
continued to urge them to stay by her. She frequently uttered incoherent
sentences, repeating, again and again, "the dead and the living cannot
be one: God has forbidden it." And then again, "Rest to the
wakeful--sleep to the sleep-walkers." These and such mysterious and
broken sentences, she continued to utter until the clergyman arrived.
Gerard Douw began to fear, naturally enough, that terror or
ill-treatment, had unsettled the poor girl's intellect, and he half
suspected, by the suddenness of her appearance, the unseasonableness of
the hour, and above all, from the wildness and terror of her manner,
that she had made her escape from some place of confinement for
lunatics, and was in imminent fear of pursuit. He resolved to summon
medical advice as soon as the mind of his niece had been in some measure
set at rest by the offices of the clergyman whose attendance she had so
earnestly desired; and until this object had been attained, he did not
venture to put any questions to her, which might possibly, by reviving
painful or horrible recollections, increase her agitation. The clergyman
soon arrived--a man of ascetic countenance and venerable age--one whom
Gerard Douw respected very much, forasmuch as he was a veteran polemic,