The blackness of darkness above and beneath and around her ... a
suffocating compression of the stagnant air ... a thrilling
consciousness of the close approach of the two cruel orbs.... a
superlative stillness ... and then a mighty attrition, in which the
mortal part of the poor girl was about to be ground to atoms, when she
... awoke.
She threw back the heavy blankets that oppressed her chest, as if
_they_ were the crushing danger. She looked overhead, expecting to see a
whirling globe within a foot of her face. But she saw only the ceiling,
made visible by the pallid light of the room. Then she knew that she was
in her own little room, and that this frightful adventure was only the
old, old dream, that came to her two or three times a year, as far back
as she could remember--the same always, without addition or curtailment.
CHAPTER IV.
A VISION OF HORRORS.
Little Pet was not the least superstitious; because her father had
taught her from infancy to pay no heed to dreams or signs; and because
he had allowed no housemaid or fussy old woman to inoculate his young
daughter with her own senseless and cowardly fears.
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