Phantastes, A Faerie Romance

As I drew nearer, and she read on, she moved a little to turn a leaf

of the dark old volume, and I saw that her face was sallow and slightly

forbidding. Her forehead was high, and her black eyes repressedly quiet.

But she took no notice of me. This end of the cottage, if cottage it

could be called, was destitute of furniture, except the table with the

lamp, and the chair on which the woman sat. In one corner was a door,

apparently of a cupboard in the wall, but which might lead to a room

beyond.

Still the irresistible desire which had made me enter the

building urged me: I must open that door, and see what was beyond it.

I approached, and laid my hand on the rude latch. Then the woman spoke,

but without lifting her head or looking at me: "You had better not open

that door." This was uttered quite quietly; and she went on with her

reading, partly in silence, partly aloud; but both modes seemed equally

intended for herself alone. The prohibition, however, only increased my

desire to see; and as she took no further notice, I gently opened the

door to its full width, and looked in. At first, I saw nothing worthy

of attention. It seemed a common closet, with shelves on each hand, on

which stood various little necessaries for the humble uses of a cottage.

In one corner stood one or two brooms, in another a hatchet and other

common tools; showing that it was in use every hour of the day for

household purposes.

But, as I looked, I saw that there were no shelves

at the back, and that an empty space went in further; its termination

appearing to be a faintly glimmering wall or curtain, somewhat less,

however, than the width and height of the doorway where I stood. But,

as I continued looking, for a few seconds, towards this faintly luminous

limit, my eyes came into true relation with their object. All at once,

with such a shiver as when one is suddenly conscious of the presence of

another in a room where he has, for hours, considered himself alone, I

saw that the seemingly luminous extremity was a sky, as of night, beheld

through the long perspective of a narrow, dark passage, through what, or

built of what, I could not tell.

As I gazed, I clearly discerned two or

three stars glimmering faintly in the distant blue. But, suddenly, and

as if it had been running fast from a far distance for this very point,

and had turned the corner without abating its swiftness, a dark figure

sped into and along the passage from the blue opening at the remote end.

I started back and shuddered, but kept looking, for I could not help it.

On and on it came, with a speedy approach but delayed arrival; till, at

last, through the many gradations of approach, it seemed to come within

the sphere of myself, rushed up to me, and passed me into the cottage.

All I could tell of its appearance was, that it seemed to be a dark

human figure. Its motion was entirely noiseless, and might be called a

gliding, were it not that it appeared that of a runner, but with ghostly

feet. I had moved back yet a little to let him pass me, and looked round

after him instantly. I could not see him.