Then the chain clanked nearer and nearer bed, and presently dusky, shapeless mass appear curtains opposite side to where lying How I longed to hear the whine poor animal that I hoped the cause alarm But no; I heard no sound save the rustle curtains clash iron chains Just then the dying flame fire leaped up, and with one sweeping, hurried glance door was shut, and, horror ! the dog ! semblance of human form that now throws itself heavily bed, outside the clothes, and lies there, huge and swart, red gleam that treacherously died away after showing to affright, and sinks into dull darkness now no light left, though the red cinders yet glowed with ruddy gleam like the eyes of wild beasts The chain rattled no more I tried , to scream wildly for help; my mouth was parched, my tongue refused to obey utter cry, and, indeed, who heard me, alone as solitary chamber, with no living neighbor, picture-gallery between me and any aid that even the loudest, most piercing shriek could summon storm that howled without drowned my voice, even if help at hand aloud--to demand who was there--alas ! how useless, how perilous ! intruder were robber, my outcries would but goad him to fury; but what robber would act thus ? As for trick, that seemed impossible And yet, WHAT lay by my side, now wholly unseen ? I strove to pray aloud as there rushed on my memory flood of weird legends--the dreaded yet fascinating lore childhood I had heard and read spirits wicked men forced to revisit the scenes earthly crimes--of demons that lurked in certain accursed spots-- ghoul and vampire east, stealing amidst the graves they rifled for their ghostly banquets; and then I shuddered as I gazed blank darkness where it lay It stirred--it moaned hoarsely; and again I heard the chain clank close beside me--so close must almost have touched me I drew myself , shrinking away in loathing and terror evil thing--what, not, but felt that something malignant was near

And yet, extremity fear, I dared not speak; strangely cautious silent, even in moving farther off; for I had wild it--the phantom, the creature, whichever -- discovered my presence room And then I remembered all the events night--Lady Speldhurst's ill- omened vaticinations, her half-warnings, her singular look parted, my sister's persuasions, my terror gallery, the remark that " the room nurse Sherrard used of " And then memory, stimulated by fear, recalled the long-forgotten past, the ill-repute disused chamber, the sins it had witnessed, the blood spilled, the poison administered by unnatural hate within its walls, tradition which called it haunted The green room--I remembered now how fearfully the servants avoided it--how mentioned rarely, and in whispers, when we were children, and how we had regarded it as mysterious region, unfit for mortal habitation --the dark form chain--a creature world, or specter ? And again--more dreadful still--could it be corpses of wicked men were forced to rise and haunt body the places where they had wrought their evil deeds ? And was such my grisly neighbor ? The chain faintly rattled My hair bristled; my eyeballs seemed starting from their sockets; the damps of great anguish were on my brow My heart labored I were crushed beneath some vast weight Sometimes it appeared to stop its frenzied beatings, sometimes its pulsations were fierce and hurried; my breath came short and with extreme difficulty, and I shivered with cold; yet I feared to stir IT moved, it moaned, its fetters clanked dismally, the couch creaked and shook no phantom, then--no air-drawn specter But its very solidity, its palpable presence, were thousand times more terrible that very grasp of what only affright but harm; of something whose contact sickened the soul with deathly fear desperate resolve: I glided bed, I seized warm wrapper, threw it around me, and tried to grope, with extended hands, my way door My heart beat high hope of escape But I had scarcely taken one step moaning was renewed--it changed into threatening growl suited wolf's throat, and hand clutched at my sleeve I stood motionless The muttering growl sank to moan again, the chain sounded no more, but still the hand held its gripe garment, and I feared to move It knew presence, then My brain reeled, the blood boiled in my ears, and my knees lost all strength, while my heart panted like that of deer wolf's jaws I sank back, benumbing influence of excessive terror reduced me to state of stupor

When my full consciousness returned sitting edge bed, shivering with cold, and barefooted All was silent, but that my sleeve was still clutched by my unearthly visitant The silence lasted Then followed chuckling laugh that froze my very marrow, gnashing of teeth as in demoniac frenzy; and then wailing moan, and succeeded by silence Hours passed--nay, though the tumult own heart prevented my hearing the clock strike, passed--but they seemed ages And how were they passed ? Hideous visions passed aching eyes that I dared not close, but which gazed ever dumb darkness where It lay--my dread companion watches night I pictured It in every abhorrent form which an excited fancy could summon up: now as skeleton; with hollow eye-holes and grinning, fleshless jaws; now as vampire, with livid face and bloated form, and dripping mouth wet with blood Would it never be light ! And yet, when day should dawn forced It I had heard that specter and fiend were compelled to fade as morning brightened, but this creature was too real, too foul thing of earth, to vanish at cock-crow No ! I it--the Horror-- ! And then the cold prevailed, and my teeth chattered, and shiverings ran through me, and yet the damp of agony on my bursting brow Some instinct made me snatch at shawl or cloak that lay on chair within reach, and wrap it round me The moan was renewed, chain just stirred Then I sank into apathy, like an Indian stake, intervals of torture Hours fled by, and I remained like statue of ice, rigid and mute I even slept, for I remember that I started the cold gray light of an early winter's day was on my face, and stealing around the room from heavy curtains window