Theodore Winthrop

“ The candle was out.
By the pallid moonlight we could just see each other’s anxious faces. We could also see, through the narrow crack of the door, that the same faint, unsubstantial glimmer filled the room. This ghostly light repelled me more than the darkness. It could show the form, but not the expression of objects; and form without expression is death.
“I have matches,” whispered Locksley. ”

“ If there were a sick man within, his hearing, sharpened by silence, would abhor a noise.
We both listened, without whisper or sigh. Locksley deposited his candle on the floor and put his ear to the keyhole. The low light flung a queer, distorted shadow of him on the wall. ”

“ Overhead, Without Among the other treasures of Rubbish Palace, I had inherited Stillfleet’s liqueur-case. It was on a generous scale, — a grand old oaken chest, bristling with griffins’ heads and claws, armed with massive iron handles, and big enough to hold all the favorite tipples of a royal household, or to hide a royal pair if they heard a Revolution coming up the stairs. ”