somnambulism.

Mr. Dent's body was brought up on a rude litter of boards, and
temporarily placed on Edna's bed, and toward evening when a coffin
arrived from Chattanooga, the remains were removed, and the coffin
rested on two chairs in the middle of the same room. The surgeon
insisted upon an immediate interment near the scene of combat; but
the gentleman who had officiated as second for the deceased
expressed his determination to carry the unfortunate man's body back
to his home and family, and the earliest train on the following day
was appointed as the time for their departure. Late in the afternoon
Edna cautiously opened the door of the room which she had hitherto
avoided, and with her apron full of lilies, while poppies and sprigs
of rosemary, approached the coffin, and looked at the rigid sleeper.
Judging from his appearance, not more than thirty years had gone
over his handsome head; his placid features were unusually regular,
and a soft, silky brown beard fell upon his pulseless breast.
Fearful lest she should touch the icy form, the girl timidly strewed
her flowers in the coffin, and tears gathered and dropped with the
blossoms, as she noticed a plain gold ring on the little finger, and
wondered if he were married--if his death would leave wailing
orphans in his home, and a broken-hearted widow at the desolate
hearthstone. Absorbed in her melancholy task, she heard neither the
sound of strange voices in the passage, nor the faint creak of the
door as it swung back on its rusty hinges; but a shrill scream, a
wild, despairing shriek terrified her, and her heart seemed to stand
still as she bounded away from the side of the coffin. The light of
the setting sun streamed through the window, and over the white,
convulsed face of a feeble but beautiful woman, who was supported on
the threshold by a venerable, gray-haired man, down whose furrowed