“5. The darkness opened, and showed me the vision—as in a picture—of a broad, lonely pool, surrounded by open ground. Above the farther margin of the pool I saw the cloudless western sky, red with the light of sunset.
“6. On the near margin of the pool there stood the Shadow of a Woman.
“7. It was the shadow only. No indication was visible to me by which I could identify it, or compare it with any living creature. The long robe showed me that it was the shadow of a woman, and showed me nothing more.
“8. The darkness closed again—remained with me for an interval—and opened for the second time.
“9. I found myself in a room, standing before a long window. The only object of furniture or of ornament that I saw (or that I can now remember having seen) was a little statue placed near me. The window opened on a lawn and flower-garden; and the rain was pattering heavily against the glass.
“10. I was not alone in the room. Standing opposite to me at the window was the Shadow of a Man.
“11. I saw no more of it; I knew no more of it than I saw and knew of the shadow of the woman. But the shadow of the man moved. It stretched out its arm toward the statue; and the statue fell in fragments on the floor.
“12. With a confused sensation in me, which was partly anger and partly distress, I stooped to look at the fragments. When I rose again, the Shadow had vanished, and I saw no more.
“13. The darkness opened for the third time, and showed me the Shadow of the Woman and the Shadow of the Man together.
“14. No surrounding scene (or none that I can now call to mind) was visible to me.