“The semblance spoke; but how faint was the voice,
Like the breeze in the reeds of the pool!”
When Julia began to recover sensation, she found herself in a reclining
position, while the object on which her eyes first opened, appeared to
her bewildered imagination, to be the mast of the boat in which she
had so lately sat. And, indeed, the wreck of what had once been a bed,
on which she now lay, having neither curtains nor top, the one naked
foot-post which remained standing was not very unlike the single mast of
a small boat. The apartment was without other furniture. The ceiling, or
rather roofing, consisted of the inside of the slating, which descending
obliquely from the opposite wall, passed close over Julia’s face, and
met the floor just behind her head. In the centre of the floor, which
was laden with straw and dust, was an open trap door with the head of a
ladder appearing a foot or two above it, while on one corner or shaft of
the said head of the ladder, hung a lantern, the only source of light the
apartment could boast.
The first sounds that blended themselves with the returning perceptions
of our heroine, were those of a soft, and she thought, well known voice,
repeating in a tone, the most heart-broken, “Poor child! poor child!”
She withdrew her eyes from the contemplation of the bed, and thought she
beheld Mrs. Montgomery leaning over her. But when her ideas and her sense
of sight both became a little clearer, she perceived that the figure she
thus beheld, was not only that of a stranger, but of a being which, now
that it ceased to move, scarcely seemed to live, the shadow only of a
human form. Yet did the countenance possess a power over Julia like that
of a spell, she could not withdraw her gaze from it. The hollow cheek,
the large prominent eye, with hopelessness for its sole expression, the
colourless lip, the perfectly white hair, the small and still delicate,
while emaciated throat, formed a picture, which could not be contemplated
without extreme pain.
Julia half raising herself, exclaimed, “Where am I? where am I? oh,
where am I?” each time with increasing earnestness. Her companion was
silent. “Tell me, tell me, where I am!” No reply. Again she repeated her
inquiries, her voice and manner becoming wild with anxiety and dread.
A sudden, loud, and undefinable sound, accompanied by a pistol shot, was
heard from below. The hitherto motionless form of the silent vision
shuddered universally. The faint tinge of life which was stealing over
the cheek of Julia fled.