He drew stealthily to the
window, and seemed to examine this hurriedly, and tested its strength with
a twist or two of his hand. And then he adjusted it very carefully in his
grasp, and made two or three little experimental picks with it in the air.
I remained perfectly still, with a terrible composure, crouched in my
hiding-place, my teeth clenched, and prepared to struggle like a tigress
for my life when discovered. I thought his next measure would be to light a
match. I saw a lantern, I fancied, on the window-sill. But this was not his
plan. He stole, in a groping way, which seemed strange to me, who could
distinguish objects in this light, to the side of my bed, the exact
position of which he evidently knew; he stooped over it. Madame was
breathing in the deep respiration of heavy sleep. Suddenly but softly he
laid, as it seemed to me, his left hand over her face, and nearly at the
same instant there came a scrunching blow; an unnatural shriek, beginning
small and swelling for two or three seconds into a yell such as are
imagined in haunted houses, accompanied by a convulsive sound, as of the
motion of running, and the arms drumming on the bed; and then another
blow--and with a horrid gasp he recoiled a step or two, and stood perfectly
still.
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