"I immediately arose. 'Then I will proceed to it at once,' said I,
taking up my traps and advancing towards her.
"'Do not be alarmed if you hear creaks and cracklings all over the
house,' observed the landlord as I departed. 'The windows are loose
and the doors ill-fitting. In such a storm as this they make noise
enough to keep an army awake. The house is safe enough though and if
you don't mind noise--'
"'O I don't mind noise,' rejoined I, feeling at that moment tired
enough to fall into a doze on the staircase. 'I shall sleep, never
fear,' and without further ado followed the girl upstairs into a large
clumsily furnished room whose enormous bed draped with heavy curtains
at once attracted my attention.
"'O I cannot sleep under those things,' remarked I, with a gesture
towards the dismal draperies which to me were another name for
suffocation.
"With a single arm-sweep she threw them back. 'Is there anything more
I can do for you?' asked she, glancing hastily about the room.
"I thanked her and said 'no,' at which she at once departed with a
look of still determination upon her countenance that I found it hard
to explain.
Left alone in that large, bare and dimly lighted room, with the wind
shrieking in the chimney and the powerful limbs of some huge tree
beating against the walls without, with a heavy thud inexpressibly
mournful, I found to my surprise and something like dismay, that the
sleepiness which had hitherto oppressed me, had in some unaccountable
way entirely fled.
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