Even the thoughts of the fair Elizabetta and the beauties of her
court, who had once graced these chambers, now, by a perversion of
fancy, added to the gloom. Here was the scene of their transient
gayety and loveliness; here were the very traces of their elegance and
enjoyment; but what and where were they?- Dust and ashes! tenants of
the tomb! phantoms of the memory!
A vague and indescribable awe was creeping over me. I would fain
have ascribed it to the thoughts of robbers awakened by the
evening's conversation, but I felt it was something more unreal and
absurd. The long-buried superstitions of the nursery were reviving,
and asserting their power over my imagination. Every thing began to be
affected by the working of my mind. The whispering of the wind,
among the citron-trees beneath my window, had something sinister. I
cast my eyes into the garden of Lindaraxa; the groves presented a gulf
of shadows; the thickets, indistinct and ghastly shapes. I was glad to
close the window, but my chamber itself became infected. There was a
slight rustling noise overhead; a bat suddenly emerged from a broken
panel of the ceiling, flitting about the room and athwart my
solitary lamp; and as the fateful bird almost flouted my face with his
noiseless wing, the grotesque faces carved in high relief in the cedar
ceiling, whence he had emerged, seemed to mope and mow at me.
Rousing myself, and half smiling at this temporary weakness, I
resolved to brave it out in the true spirit of the hero of the
enchanted house; so, taking lamp in hand, I sallied forth to make a
tour of the palace.
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