in the neighbourhood. Still the shadow remained; not steady, but
moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind
themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in
uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey. There seemed
but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I
went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would
not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the
ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my
eyes towards the moon Good heavens! what did I see? I wonder
that ever I arose, and that the very shadow of the hand did not
hold me where I lay until fear had frozen my brain. I saw the
strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the
central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the
outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a
shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which
I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a
paw about to strike its prey. But the face, which throbbed with
fluctuating and pulsatory visibility--not from changes in the
light it reflected, but from changes in its own conditions of
reflecting power, the alterations being from within, not from
without--it was horrible. I do not know how to describe it. It
caused a new sensation. Just as one cannot translate a horrible
odour, or a ghastly pain, or a fearful sound, into words, so I
cannot describe this new form of awful hideousness. I can only
try to describe something that is not it, but seems somewhat
parallel to it; or at least is suggested by it. It reminded me
of what I had heard of vampires; for the face resembled that of a
corpse more than anything else I can think of; especially when I
can conceive such a face in motion, but not suggesting any life
as the source of the motion. The features were rather handsome