bed, which at first I could not accurately distinguish. But I soon saw that it was a
sooty-black animal that resembled a monstrous cat. It appeared to me about four
or five feet long for it measured fully the length of the hearthrug as it passed over
it; and it continued to-ing and fro-ing with the lithe, sinister restlessness of a
beast in a cage. I could not cry out, although as you may suppose, I was terrified.
Its pace was growing faster, and the room rapidly darker and darker, and at
length so dark that I could no longer see anything of it but its eyes. I felt it spring
lightly on the bed. The two broad eyes approached my face, and suddenly I felt a
stinging pain as if two large needles darted, an inch or two apart, deep into my
breast. I waked with a scream. The room was lighted by the candle that burnt
there all through the night, and I saw a female figure standing at the foot of the
bed, a little at the right side. It was in a dark loose dress, and its hair was down
and covered its shoulders. A block of stone could not have been more still. There
was not the slightest stir of respiration. As I stared at it, the figure appeared to
have changed its place, and was now nearer the door; then, close to it, the door
opened, and it passed out.
I was now relieved, and able to breathe and move. My first thought was that
Carmilla had been playing me a trick, and that I had forgotten to secure my door.
I hastened to it, and found it locked as usual on the inside. I was afraid to open
it—I was horrified. I sprang into my bed and covered my head up in the
bedclothes, and lay there more dead than alive till morning.
