" Could he have
already connected the two things, the bloody footstep and this
Anglo-American interest? The next piece of history comes in the shape of
a manuscript book in journal form, written in 1858, after Hawthorne had
left the consulate, and containing what must have been the earliest
sketch of the story, as he then conceived it. It begins abruptly, and
proceeds uncertainly, at the rate of a few pages each day, for about a
month. Detached passages of narration alternate with abstracts of the
proposed plot, and analysis of the characters. The chief interest seems
to lie in the project which a young American has formed, during a visit
to England, of tracing out and proving his inherited right to an old
manor-house formerly the property of his ancestors. This old hall
possesses the peculiarity of the bloody footstep, and with this some
mystery is connected, which the writer himself does not yet seem to have
discovered. He takes a characteristic pleasure in waiting for this
suggestive footstep to track the lurking interest of his story to its
lair, and lingers on the threshold of the tale, gazing upon it,
indulging himself with that tantalizing pleasure of vague anticipation
in which he hopes to envelop the good reader. The perusal of this
singular journal, in which the transactions recorded are but day-dreams,
is absorbing beyond description. But though at times he seems to be
rapidly approaching the heart of the story, yet at every point the
subtle darkness and coming terror of the theme seem to baffle the
author, and he retires, to await a more favorable moment.
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