Animals, irrational
animals, had told the secret, and birds of the air had carried the
matter. The elements had seemed to betray the deed which had polluted
them--earth had ceased to support the murderer's steps, fire to warm
his frozen limbs, water to refresh his parched lips, air to relieve
his gasping lungs. All, in short, bore evidence to the homicide's
guilt. In other circumstances, the criminal's own awakened conscience
pursued and brought him to justice; and in some narratives the grave
was said to have yawned, that the ghost of the sufferer might call for
revenge.
It was now wearing late in the night, and the book was still in
Nigel's hands, when the tapestry which hung behind him flapped against
the wall, and the wind produced by its motion waved the flame of the
candles by which he was reading. Nigel started and turned round, in
that excited and irritated state of mind which arose from the nature
of his studies, especially at a period when a certain degree of
superstition was inculcated as a point of religious faith. It was not
without emotion that he saw the bloodless countenance, meagre form,
and ghastly aspect of old Trapbois, once more in the very act of
extending his withered hand towards the table which supported his
arms. Convinced by this untimely apparition that something evil was
meditated towards him, Nigel sprung up, seized his sword, drew it, and
placing it at the old man's breast, demanded of him what he did in his
apartment at so untimely an hour.
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