Danger in the Dark - ZseZse

92 DANGER IN THE DARK.
"How strangely ~"
" I was upon my knees, praying to the holy Virgin
Mary- the door was closed; I saw no one; heard
no one; am confident no one was near; yet, in a
beautiful envelope, with my full name elegantly
inscribed upon it, and in the handwriting of Alonzo,
the letter dropped lightly on the floor immediately in
front of me, brushing softly my bosom as it passed,
and falling at the foot of the crucifix."
" Wonderfull But some one must have brought it."
" How was it possible for anyone to enter without
opening the door ~ beside, it came not in that direction."
" The window is open."
"But know you not it is full twenty feet from the
ground ~"
" True. 'Tis very strange I Does Alonzo Carleton's
name sign it ~"
" It does; look you here."
" Yes - 'tis plain - familiar as would seem his
face; he must have written it. What is the pur-
port ~"
"Read for yourself."
Trembling from the influence of a superstitious
fear, which the mysterious circumstance had inspired,
Arabella took the letter from Maria's hand, and
hastily swept her dilating eyes over line after line,
until the contents of the sheet were entirely perused.
" How unlike the former letter he wrote you I"
observed Arabella, when she had finished the perusal,