I was irritated and disappointed beyond measure at the failure of the
plan of escape I had formed, but thought it most prudent to conceal my
feelings. I now perceived the rashness and bad consequences of my
bold assertions respecting the murder of Morvalden; for Angerstoff
evidently thought that his personal safety, and even his life, would
be endangered, if I ever found an opportunity of accusing and giving
evidence against him. All my motions were now watched with double
vigilance. Marietta and her paramour kept upon deck by turns during
the whole day, and the latter looked over the surrounding ocean,
through a glass, at intervals, to discover if any boat or vessel was
approaching us. He often muttered threats as he walked past me,
and, more than once, seemed waiting for an opportunity to push me
overboard. Marietta and he frequently whispered together, and I always
imagined I heard my name mentioned in the course of these
conversations.
I now felt completely miserable, being satisfied that Angerstoff
was bent upon my destruction. I wandered, in a state of fearful
circumspection, from one part of the vessel to the other, not knowing
how to secure myself from his designs. Every time he approached me, my
heart palpitated dreadfully; and when night came on, I was agonised
with terror, and could not remain in one spot, but hurried backwards
and forwards between the cabin and the deck, looking wildly from side
to side, and momentarily expecting to feel a cold knife entering my
vitals. My forehead began to burn, and my eyes dazzled; I became
acutely sensitive, and the slightest murmur, or the faintest breath of
wind, set my whole frame in a state of uncontrollable vibration. At
first, I sometimes thought of throwing myself into the sea; but I soon
acquired such an intense feeling of existence, that the mere idea of
death was horrible to me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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