My sleep was troubled, and my dreams haunted that night. I seemed to stand before the altar with my beloved, her hand clasped in mine; and I was on the point of placing the nuptial ring on her delicate finger, when suddenly the shade of her sister arose up^a between us, and with a stern countenance waved me from her presence. In vain I strove to retain my place, to grasp the hand of my bride; the shadowy, but menacing figure of the dead always interposed between us, to prevent the performance of the sacred ceremony; and gasping, trembling, with the cold drops of perspiration falling from my brow, I started from slumber in an agony of horror. Good heavens! if such fearful visions were to haunt my couch when my bride became a sharer of it, how dreadful would be my position, and how might I betray the fatal secret! I left my bed. I walked up and down my chamber, tried^b to reason myself out of the terror my dreams had inspired: but my efforts to conquer it were in vain; for when, tired and exhausted, I again dropped into sleep, the same dreams returned, / until, unable any longer to support them, I left my pillow at early morn, and sought in the fresh air to cool my fevered brow, and recover my self-possession.