It reminded me
of what I had heard of vampires; for the face resembled that of a
corpse more than anything else I can think of; especially when I
can conceive such a face in motion, but not suggesting any life
as the source of the motion. The features were rather handsome
than otherwise, except the mouth, which had scarcely a curve in
it. The lips were of equal thickness; but the thickness was not
at all remarkable, even although they looked slightly swollen.
They seemed fixedly open, but were not wide apart. Of course I
did not REMARK these lineaments at the time: I was too horrified
for that. I noted them afterwards, when the form returned on my
inward sight with a vividness too intense to admit of my doubting
the accuracy of the reflex. But the most awful of the features
were the eyes. These were alive, yet not with life.
They seemed lighted up with an infinite greed. A gnawing
voracity, which devoured the devourer, seemed to be the
indwelling and propelling power of the whole ghostly apparition.
I lay for a few moments simply imbruted with terror; when another
cloud, obscuring the moon, delivered me from the immediately
paralysing effects of the presence to the vision of the object of
horror, while it added the force of imagination to the power of
fear within me; inasmuch as, knowing far worse cause for
apprehension than before, I remained equally ignorant from what I
had to defend myself, or how to take any precautions: he might be
upon me in the darkness any moment.
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