All I could see at first; was that the chamber was small; next, that the light patch in a line with the window was the white coverlet of a bed; and next, that somebody, or something, lay on the bed. I listened again. There was no sound in the room; no heart beating but my own. I reached out a hand to pull up the blind, and drew it back again. I dared not. The daylight grew, minute by minute, on the dull parallelogram of the blind, and minute by minute that horrible thing on the bed took something of distinctness. The strain beat me at last. I fetched a veritable yell to give myself courage, and, reaching for the cord, pulled up the blind as fast as it would go. The face on the pillow was that of an old man--a face waxen and peaceful, with quiet lines about the month and eyes, and long lines of gray hair falling back from the temples. The body was turned a little on one side, and one hand lay outside the bedclothes in a very natural manner. But there were two dark spots on the coverlet. Then I knew I was face to face with the real householder; and it flashed on me that I had been indiscreet in taking service as his butler, and that I knew the face his ex-butler wore. [Illustration: "FACE TO FACE WITH THE REAL HOUSEHOLDER."] And, being by this time awake to the responsibilities of the post, I quitted it three steps at a time, not once looking behind me. Outside the house the storm had died, and white sunlight broke over the sodden moors. But my bones were cold, and I ran faster and faster. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. BY IDA M. TARBELL. LINCOLN'S PROMINENCE AS A WHIG POLITICIAN AT THIRTY-TWO.--STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS'S REMOVAL TO SPRINGFIELD.--BEGINNING OF THE RIVALRY BETWEEN LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS.--LINCOLN'S PART IN THE CAMPAIGN OF 1840.--MARY TODD AND HER ENGAGEMENT TO LINCOLN.--FALSE STORIES REGARDING LINCOLN'S COURTSHIP.--THE LINCOLN AND SHIELDS DUEL.--LINCOLN'S MARRIAGE. By the time Abraham Lincoln was thirty-two years old--that is, in 1841--he was one of the leading Whig politicians of Illinois. Four times in succession he had been elected to the General Assembly of the State--in 1834, 1836, 1838, and 1840. Twice he had been a candidate for Speaker of the House--in 1838 and in 1840--both times against William L.D. Ewing; and though both times defeated, the vote had in each instance been close. In 1841 he had been talked of as a candidate for governor, a suggestion to which he would not listen.