No
articulation was ever more distinct. The breath which accompanied
it did not fan my hair, yet did every circumstance combine to
persuade me that the lips which uttered it touched my very
shoulder.
"Hold! hold!" were the words of this tremendous prohibition, in
whose tone the whole soul seemed to be wrapped up, and every energy
converted into eagerness and terror.
Shuddering, I dashed myself against the wall, and, by the same
involuntary impulse, turned my face backward to examine the
mysterious monitor. The moonlight streamed into each window, and
every corner of the room was conspicuous, and yet I beheld nothing!
The interval was too brief to be artificially measured, between the
utterance of these words and my scrutiny directed to the quarter
whence they came. Yet, if a human being had been there, could he
fail to have been visible? Which of my senses was the prey of a
fatal illusion? The shock which the sound produced was still felt
in every part of my frame. The sound, therefore, could not but be
a genuine commotion. But that I had heard it was not more true
than that the being who uttered it was stationed at my right ear;
yet my attendant was invisible.
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