At length, summoning up his
courage, he advanced to the spot on which the figure had seemed to
be seated; but neither was there pressure of the grass nor any other
circumstance to induce him to believe that what he had seen was real and
substantial.
Full of those strange thoughts and confused apprehensions which awake
in the bosom of one who conceives he has witnessed some preternatural
appearance, the Master of Ravenswood walked back towards his horse,
frequently, however, looking behind him, not without apprehension, as if
expecting that the vision would reappear. But the apparition, whether
it was real or whether it was the creation of a heated and agitated
imagination, returned not again; and he found his horse sweating and
terrified, as if experiencing that agony of fear with which the presence
of a supernatural being is supposed to agitate the brute creation. The
Master mounted, and rode slowly forward, soothing his steed from time
to time, while the animal seemed internally to shrink and shudder, as
if expecting some new object of fear at the opening of every glade.
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