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And yet Hannah had no foolish fancies, filled though the house was, with
the image of the dead man. She did not believe in ghosts, and had no
fear that the occupant of the hidden grave beneath the floor would come
back to trouble her; it was rather the horror of the crime, the sin,
which so oppressed her, filling her with the wildest fancies, and making
her see always the dreadful word murder written everywhere upon the
walls, and the blood-stains on the floor, where no trace was visible to
other eyes than hers. Sometimes in the dark night, in her lonely bed
beneath the roof, with the stars looking in upon her, she felt as if her
brain were on fire and that she was going mad with the load of anguish
and guilt, for she accused herself as equally guilty with her father,
inasmuch as she had witnessed the deed and was helping him to conceal
it.
"But God knows I cannot help it. I am bound with bonds I cannot break,"
she would cry, as she stretched her hands toward heaven in dumb
supplication for pardon and peace, which came at last to the troubled
spirit.


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