ABSTRACT
Again obliged to pass a night of solitary watching, I arranged my fire, and threw myself on my bed to rest my limbs, though my mind had little chance of repose. The loss of Mr. Randolph afflicted me deeply; and I lamented it the more, when I reflected that the event of Mrs. Aubrey’s death had occasioned him to think, however justly, unfavourably of me. The approaching dissolution of Lady Aubrey did not fail to augment the melancholy prospects which crowded rapidly on my thoughts; while the mystery, which seemed to involve every part of the family history, placed divination beyond the powers of reason. The house, as on the preceding night, was perfectly quiet soon after I entered my chamber. The weather was serene, and the awful stillness which seemed to await the repose of nature, served rather to increase than to divert the mind from gloomy meditation.
