and unthought of, by his bed side. The words I should use, and the
mode of utterance were not easily settled, but having at length
selected these, I made myself by much previous repetition,
perfectly familiar with the use of them.

I selected a blustering and inclement night, in which the
darkness was augmented by a veil of the blackest clouds. The
building we inhabited was slight in its structure, and full of
crevices through which the gale found easy way, and whistled in a
thousand cadences. On this night the elemental music was
remarkably sonorous, and was mingled not unfrequently with
~~thunder heard remote~~.

I could not divest myself of secret dread. My heart faultered
with a consciousness of wrong. Heaven seemed to be present and to
disapprove my work; I listened to the thunder and the wind, as to
the stern voice of this disapprobation. Big drops stood on my
forehead, and my tremors almost incapacitated me from proceeding.

These impediments however I surmounted; I crept up stairs at
midnight, and entered my father's chamber. The darkness was
intense and I sought with outstretched hands for his bed. The
darkness, added to the trepidation of my thoughts, disabled me from
making a right estimate of distances: I was conscious of this, and
when I advanced within the room, paused.

I endeavoured to compare the progress I had made with my
knowledge of the room, and governed by the result of this
comparison, proceeded cautiously and with hands still outstretched
in search of the foot of the bed. At this moment lightning flashed