“Such was the assurance of the surgeon, and he turned away to other patients, of whom there were, however, very few in the hospital, and none near me. As he turned his back, madam looked at me. Her face was really diabolical, and I thought at the moment that she was a nightmare--that I _dreamed her_! Closing my eyes to shut out the vision, I kept them thus shut for some moments. When I reopened them she was gone. “Well, the surgeon’s predictions did not seem likely to be verified. My fever returned. Throughout the succeeding day I turned and tossed on my couch; as night came, I had some hideous dreams. A storm was raging without, and the rain falling in torrents. The building trembled, the windows rattled--it was a night of nights for some devil’s work; and I remember laughing in my fever, and muttering, ‘Now is the time for delirium, bad dreams, and ugly shapes, to flock around me!’ “I fell into a doze at last, and had, as I thought, a decidedly bad dream--for I felt certain that I was dreaming, and that what I witnessed was the sport of my fancy. What I saw, or seemed to see, was this: the door opened slowly--a head was thrust in, and remained motionless for an instant; then the head moved, a body followed; madam, the lady of the dark eyes, glided stealthily toward my cot. It was enough to make one shudder, Surry, to have seen the stealthy movement of that phantom. I gazed at it through my half-closed eyelids--saw the midnight eyes burning in the white face half covered by a shawl thrown over the head--and, under that covering, the right hand of the phantom grasped something which I could not make out. “In three quick steps _it_ was beside me. I say _it_, for the figure resembled that of a ghost, or some horrible _thing_. From the eyes two flames seemed to dart, the lips opened, and I heard, in a low mutter:-- “‘Ah! he is going to recover, then!’ “As the words left the phantom’s lips, it reached my cot at a bound; something gleamed aloft, and I started back only in time to avoid the sharp point of a poniard, which grazed my head and nearly buried itself in the pillow on which I lay. “Well, I started up and endeavored to seize my assailant; but she suddenly broke away from me, still clutching her weapon. Her clothing was torn from her person--she recoiled toward the door--and I leaped from my couch to rush after and arrest her. I had not the strength to do so, however. I had scarcely taken three steps when I began to stagger. “‘Murderess!’ I exclaimed, extending my arms to arrest her flight. “It was useless. A few feet further I reeled--my head seemed turning round--and again shouting ‘Murderess!’ I fell at full length on the floor, at the moment when the woman disappeared.