ten o'clock
I have said it , and am perfectly resolved . '' As he thus spoke , as if to avoid the possibility of any further discussion , he turned abruptly from her , and left the room . The extreme agitation which she had just undergone combined with her physical delicacy to bring on an hysterical attack ; and poor Mrs. Marston , with an aching head and a heavy heart , lay down upon her bed . She had swallowed an opiate , and before ten o'clock upon that night , an eventful one as it proved , she had sunk into a profound slumber . Some hours after this , she became in a confused way conscious of her husband 's presence in the room . He was walking , with an agitated mien , up and down the chamber , and casting from time to time looks of great trouble toward the bed where she lay . Though the presence of her husband was a strange and long unwonted occurrence there , at such an hour , and though she felt the strangeness of the visit , the power of the opiate overwhelmed her so , that she could only see this apparition gliding slowly back and forward before her , with the passive wonder and curiosity with which one awaits the issue of an interesting dream .