She had dreamed that some one with long white fingers was
strangling her, and she saw bending over her the face of an old
woman in a white cap. When she waked there was no old woman, the
room was almost as light as day in the full moonlight, and looked
very peaceful; but the strangling sensation at her throat
continued, and besides that, her face and ears felt muffled. She
put up her hand and felt that her head was covered with a ruffled
nightcap tied under her chin so tightly that it was exceedingly
uncomfortable. A great qualm of horror shot over her. She tore
the thing off frantically and flung it from her with a convulsive
effort as if it had been a spider. She gave, as she did so, a
quick, short scream of terror. She sprang out of bed and was going
toward the door, when she stopped.
It had suddenly occurred to her that Eliza Lippincott might have
entered the room and tied on the cap while she was asleep. She had
not locked her door. She looked in the closet, under the bed;
there was no one there. Then she tried to open the door, but to
her astonishment found that it was locked--bolted on the inside.
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