I
therefore collected whatever moveables I could carry thither, and
piled them against the doors, so as to assist me in whatever attempts
I should make to resist the entrance of those without. I then returned
to the bed and endeavoured again, but fruitlessly, to awaken my
cousin. It was not sleep, it was torpor, lethargy, death. I knelt down
and prayed with an agony of earnestness; and then seating myself upon
the bed, I awaited my fate with a kind of terrible tranquillity.
I heard a faint clanking sound from the narrow court which I
have already mentioned, as if caused by the scraping of some iron
instrument against stones or rubbish. I at first determined not to
disturb the calmness which I now experienced, by uselessly watching
the proceedings of those who sought my life; but as the sounds
continued, the horrible curiosity which I felt overcame every
other emotion, and I determined, at all hazards, to gratify it. I,
therefore, crawled upon my knees to the window, so as to let the
smallest possible portion of my head appear above the sill.
The moon was shining with an uncertain radiance upon the antique grey
buildings, and obliquely upon the narrow court beneath; one side of
it was therefore clearly illuminated, while the other was lost in
obscurity, the sharp outlines of the old gables, with their nodding
clusters of ivy, being at first alone visible.
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