“Where? when? what about her?”
“Oh, I woke up and felt her lying by my side! so close that she chilled and oppressed me! I put out my hand, and she caught it in her deathly fingers! I screamed, but she spoke to me! She was about to tell me something, when she was suddenly snatched up and torn away!”
“My dear Sybil, this was nightmare again!”
“Oh, no, no, no! I have had nightmare, and know what it is! It is not like this! All this was real, as real as you and I! This place is full of devils!”
“My darling wife, have you lost your senses?”
“Oh, no; but I shall lose them if I stay in this demon-haunted place a day longer!”
“Thank Heaven! we will not have to stay here a day longer. We leave, this coming evening. And see! the morning is dawning, Sybil; and with the coming of the light, all these shadows of darkness and phantoms of fear will flee away,” said Lyon with a smile.
“Oh, you don’t believe me. You never do believe me. But oh! let me tell you all about this ghastly thing, and then perhaps you will see that it is real,” said Sybil.
And still in much agitation of spirits, she told him all the particulars of her strange visitation.
He still believed in his soul that she had been the victim of incubus, but he would not vex her by persisting in saying so. He only repeated that the morning was at hand, when all the terrors of the night would be dispersed; and added that they would not have to pass another night in the “demon-peopled place,” as this would be the very last day of their stay.