without whom life to her was a dreary blank. She was lodged in a small
apartment on the third story of the tower, opening straight from a
narrow passage at the head of the winding stairs. It had two small
windows, which looked on the paved courtyard of the castle; and beyond,
to what was then a bare meadow, and the river. The moon gave little
light, and she turned from the gloomy prospect to the ample hearth, on
which the bright logs were blazing. Her heart was full, and her mind so
restless, that after her maidens left her, she continued to pace up and
down her little chamber, unwilling to retire to rest. At length she
threw herself upon her bed, exhausted by the eagerness of her feelings,
and in the agitation of her ideas she forgot to say her prayers. Yet
she slept, and calmly, but her sleep was short. She awakened suddenly,
and starting half up, listened anxiously for some minutes. The wind blew
strongly round the old tower, and a thick shower of sleet was driving
fast against the casements; but, in the pauses of the storm, she thought
she heard distinctly, though at a distance, the tramp of a horse at his
speed. She bent forward and watched the sound. It came nearer--it grew
louder--it gallopped over the hard ground, and approached with the
swiftness of lightning. She gasped and trembled--it was he, it must be
he,--she knew the long firm bound of her husband's charger. Its rapid
feet struck loud on the pavement of the courtyard below, and in an
instant dropt dead below the great door of the castle. She had neither
power to breathe, nor to move, but she listened for the call of the
porter's name, and the jar of the chains and bolts which secured the
door. She heard nothing--she grew bewildered, and tried to rise to call
for succour--but a spell was on her to keep her down. At length, from
the very bottom of the winding stair, came the sound of a firm foot,
ascending regularly step by step, without a pause in its motion, the
several stories. It rang on the stone passage adjoining her apartment,
and stept with a loud tread at her door. No lock was turned, no hinge