She was weary and warm,
for the day had been hot and sultry. Seating herself on the threshold of
the door, she leaned her tack against the doorpost, and closed her eyes.
Perhaps the poor child's thoughts were wandering back to her far-off,
never-to-be-forgotten home, or she might be thinking of the hunters and
their game. Suddenly a vague, undefinable feeling of dread stole over her
mind: she heard no steps, she felt no breath, she saw no form; but there
was a strange consciousness that she was not alone--that some unseen being
was near, some eye was upon her. I have heard of sleepers starting from
sleep the most profound when the noiseless hand of the assassin has been
raised to destroy them, as if the power of the human eye could be felt
through the closed lid.
Thus fared it with Catharine: she felt as if some unseen enemy was near
her; and, springing to her feet, she cast a wild, troubled glance around.
No living being met her eye; and, ashamed of her cowardice, she resumed her
seat. The tremulous cry of her little grey squirrel, a pet which she had
tamed and taught to run to her and nestle in her bosom, attracted her
attention.
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