The boy begged that a light might burn in his
apartment till he was asleep, and anxiously examined the fastenings of
the door; but they seemed to have been wrenched asunder on some former
occasion, and were still left rusty and broken.
It was long ere the pedlar attempted to compose his agitated nerves to
rest; but at length his senses began to "steep themselves in
forgetfulness," though his imagination remained painfully active, and
presented new scenes of terror to his mind, with all the vividness of
reality. He fancied himself again wandering on the heath, which
appeared to be peopled with spectres, who all beckoned to him not to
enter the cottage, and as he approached it, they vanished with a hollow
and despairing cry. The scene then changed, and he found himself again
seated by the fire, where the countenances of the men scowled upon him
with the most terrifying malignity, and he thought the old woman
suddenly seized him by the arms, and pinioned them to his side.
Suddenly the boy was startled from these agitated slumbers, by what
sounded to him like a cry of distress; he was broad awake in a moment,
and sat up in bed,--but the noise was not repeated, and he endeavoured
to persuade himself it had only been a continuation of the fearful
images which had disturbed his rest; when, on glancing at the door, he
observed underneath it a broad, red stream of blood silently stealing
its course along the floor.
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