There is another dream, another vision of the night.  I stand among the shadows in a moonlit road.  I am aware of another presence, but whose I cannot rightly determine.  In the shadow of a great dwelling I catch the gleam of white garments; then the figure of a woman confronts me in the road—­my murdered wife!  There is death in the face; there are marks upon the throat.  The eyes are fixed on mine with an infinite gravity which is not reproach, nor hate, nor menace, nor anything less terrible than recognition.  Before this awful apparition I retreat in terror—­a terror that is upon me as I write.  I can no longer rightly shape the words.  See! they —

Now I am calm, but truly there is no more to tell:  the incident ends where it began—­in darkness and in doubt.

Yes, I am again in control of myself:  “the captain of my soul.”  But that is not respite; it is another stage and phase of expiation.  My penance, constant in degree, is mutable in kind:  one of its variants is tranquillity.  After all, it is only a life-sentence.  “To Hell for life”—­that is a foolish penalty:  the culprit chooses the duration of his punishment.  To-day my term expires.

To each and all, the peace that was not mine.

III—­STATEMENT OF THE LATE JULIA HETMAN, THROUGH THE MEDIUM BAYROLLES

I had retired early and fallen almost immediately into a peaceful sleep, from which I awoke with that indefinable sense of peril which is, I think, a common experience in that other, earlier life.  Of its unmeaning character, too, I was entirely persuaded, yet that did not banish it.  My husband, Joel Hetman, was away from home; the servants slept in another part of the house.  But these were familiar conditions; they had never before distressed me.  Nevertheless, the strange terror grew so insupportable that conquering my reluctance to move I sat up and lit the lamp at my bedside.  Contrary to my expectation this gave me no relief; the light seemed rather an added danger, for I reflected that it would shine out under the door, disclosing my presence to whatever evil thing might lurk outside.  You that are still in the flesh, subject to horrors of the imagination, think what a monstrous fear that must be which seeks in darkness security from malevolent existences of the night.  That is to spring to close quarters with an unseen enemy—­the strategy of despair!

Extinguishing the lamp I pulled the bed-clothing about my head and lay trembling and silent, unable to shriek, forgetful to pray.  In this pitiable state I must have lain for what you call hours—­with us there are no hours, there is no time.