Carmilla

"I don't know which should be most afraid of the other," she said, again

smiling--"If you were less pretty I think I should be very much afraid

of you, but being as you are, and you and I both so young, I feel only

that I have made your acquaintance twelve years ago, and have already a

right to your intimacy; at all events it does seem as if we were

destined, from our earliest childhood, to be friends. I wonder whether

you feel as strangely drawn towards me as I do to you; I have never had

a friend--shall I find one now?" She sighed, and her fine dark eyes

gazed passionately on me.

Now the truth is, I felt rather unaccountably towards the beautiful

stranger. I did feel, as she said, "drawn towards her," but there was

also something of repulsion. In this ambiguous feeling, however, the

sense of attraction immensely prevailed. She interested and won me; she

was so beautiful and so indescribably engaging.

I perceived now something of languor and exhaustion stealing over her,

and hastened to bid her good night.

"The doctor thinks," I added, "that you ought to have a maid to sit up

with you tonight; one of ours is waiting, and you will find her a very

useful and quiet creature."

"How kind of you, but I could not sleep, I never could with an attendant

in the room. I shan't require any assistance--and, shall I confess my

weakness, I am haunted with a terror of robbers. Our house was robbed

once, and two servants murdered, so I always lock my door. It has become

a habit--and you look so kind I know you will forgive me. I see there is

a key in the lock."

She held me close in her pretty arms for a moment and whispered in my

ear, "Good night, darling, it is very hard to part with you, but good

night; tomorrow, but not early, I shall see you again."

She sank back on the pillow with a sigh, and her fine eyes followed me

with a fond and melancholy gaze, and she murmured again "Good night,

dear friend."

Young people like, and even love, on impulse. I was flattered by the

evident, though as yet undeserved, fondness she showed me. I liked the

confidence with which she at once received me. She was determined that

we should be very near friends.

Next day came and we met again. I was delighted with my companion; that

is to say, in many respects.

Her looks lost nothing in daylight--she was certainly the most beautiful

creature I had ever seen, and the unpleasant remembrance of the face

presented in my early dream, had lost the effect of the first unexpected

recognition.

She confessed that she had experienced a similar shock on seeing me, and

precisely the same faint antipathy that had mingled with my admiration

of her. We now laughed together over our momentary horrors.