The drive of the wind, the chill of the storm had made her drowsy. The night before her sleep had been disturbed. As she sat there her head drooped more and more. It began nodding, then suddenly came up with a jerk.
Again she was awake! She would not fall asleep, she told herself. Would not. Would not!
Yet, in three minutes she was nodding again. This time her chin sank lower and lower, until at last it rested on her breast, which moved slowly up and down in the rhythmic breathing of one who sleeps.
How long she slept would be hard to tell. So natural was her awaking that she did not realize that she had been asleep at all.
Yet she sensed that something about the place was different. A vague uneasiness stole over her.
Once she had opened her eyes, she knew what it was. There was light—a strange light, somewhere in the room; a dim, almost imperceptible illumination pervaded all.
As she turned her head, without moving in her seat, she with difficulty suppressed a scream.
At the far end of the room was an apparition, or so at least it seemed.
“A blue face! A face of blue fire. It can’t be.” She rubbed her eyes.
“And yet it is.” Her mind did all the talking. Her lips were numb. It is doubtful if she could have spoken had she dared to. But this was no time to speak.