Is such a feeling as this never known to human beings?
We believe that it is.
And certain was it that Adeline became the prey of a similar influence—vague, sinister, and undefined,—as she sate in the loneliness of the large apartment around which her glances wandered with an uneasiness that did not diminish.
She rose from her seat and walked to the window: it was now quite dark—the sky was overclouded—and neither moon nor stars appeared.
"I could wish that the evening were less gloomy," she said to herself. "And how long Quentin seems to be!"
Then she remembered that he had many purchases to make; for it was not expected that the gardener would have provided the requisite stock of provisions and necessaries, even if he had received the letter announcing Lady Ravensworth's intended return.
"Still I wish he would come!" said Adeline. "He is a faithful servant—and I should feel more secure were he near me. What can be this dreadful depression of spirits which I experience? Alas! happiness and I have long been strangers to each other: but never—never have I felt as I do to-night!"
She started: it struck her that the handle of the folding doors communicating with the next room was agitated.
Yes: it was no delusion—some one was about to enter.
Yielding to fears which were the more intense because they were altogether inexplicable, she leant against the wall for support—her eyes fixed, under the influence of a species of fascination, upon the doors at the farther extremity of the room.