The paroxysm passed away. I prayed once more with the bitter, agonised
fervour of one who feels that the hour of death is present and
inevitable. When I arose, I went once more to the window and looked
out, just in time to see a shadowy figure glide stealthily along the
wall. The task was finished. The catastrophe of the tragedy must soon
be accomplished. I determined now to defend my life to the last; and
that I might be able to do so with some effect, I searched the room
for something which might serve as a weapon; but either through
accident, or else in anticipation of such a possibility, every thing
which might have been made available for such a purpose had been
removed.
I must then die tamely and without an effort to defend myself. A
thought suddenly struck me; might it not be possible to escape through
the door, which the assassin must open in order to enter the room?
I resolved to make the attempt. I felt assured that the door through
which ingress to the room would be effected was that which opened
upon the lobby. It was the more direct way, besides being, for obvious
reasons, less liable to interruption than the other. I resolved, then,
to place myself behind a projection of the wall, the shadow would
serve fully to conceal me, and when the door should be opened, and
before they should have discovered the identity of the occupant of
the bed, to creep noiselessly from the room, and then to trust to
Providence for escape.
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