At last, cautiously and timorously, I put one leg out
of bed and then the other, till at length I felt the little ridges of
the carpet; but my knees gave way, my head swam, my stomach heaved
with a deadly nausea, and I fell like a log on the floor.
As I lay there I knew that I was indeed in the grasp of fever. I
nearly went crazed from terror at the thought that in a few minutes I
should perhaps lapse into unconsciousness and be unable to
rise--unable to reach the sands in the morning and seek for Wynne's
body--unable even to send some one there as a substitute to perform
that task. But then whom was I to send? whom could I entrust with
such a commission? I was under a pledge to my dead father never to
divulge the secret of the amulet save to my mother and uncle. And
besides, if I would effectually save Winifred from the harm I
dreaded, the hideous sacrilege committed by her father must be kept a
secret from servants and townspeople. Whom then could I send on this
errand? At the present moment, there were but four people in the
world who knew that the cross and casket had been placed in the
coffin--my mother, my uncle, myself, and now, alas! Winifred.
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