"carmilla" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fanu J Sheridan Le)

think it so trifling that it should not be recorded here. You will see,
however, by-and-by, why I mention it. The nursery, as it was called,
though I had it all to myself, was a large room in the upper story of the
castle, with a steep oak roof. I can't have been more than six years old,
when one night I awoke and, looking round the room from my bed, failed to
see the nursery-maid. Neither was my nurse there; and I thought myself
alone. I was not frightened, for I was one of those happy children who are
studiously kept in ignorance of ghost stories, of fairy tales, and of all
such lore as makes us cover up our heads when the door creaks suddenly, or
the flicker of an expiring candle makes the shadow of a bed-post dance upon
the wall, nearer to our faces. I was vexed and insulted at finding myself,
as I conceived, neglected, and I began to whimper, preparatory to a hearty
bout of roaring; when, to my surprise, I saw a solemn, but very pretty face
looking at me from the side of the bed. It was that of a young lady, who
was kneeling, with her hands under the coverlet. I looked at her with a
kind of pleased wonder, and ceased whimpering. She caressed me with her
hands, and lay down beside me on the bed, and drew me towards her, smiling;
I felt immediately delightfully soothed, and fell asleep again. I was
wakened by a sensation as if two needles ran into my breast very deep at
the same moment, and I cried loudly. The lady started back with her eyes
fixed on me, and then slipped down upon the floor, and, as I thought, hid
herself under the bed.



I was now for the first time frightened, and I yelled with all my might
and main. Nurse, nursery-maid, housekeeper, all came running in, and
hearing my story they made light of it, soothing me all they could
meanwhile. But, child as I was, I could perceive that their faces were
pale with an unwonted look of anxiety, and I saw them look under the bed,
and about the room, and peep under tables and pluck open cupboards; and the
housekeeper whispered to the nurse: "Lay your hand along that hollow in the
bed; someone did lie there, so sure as you did not; the place is still
warm."



I remember the nursery-maid petting me, and all three examining my chest,
where I told them I felt the puncture, and pronouncing that there was no
sign visible that any such thing had happened to me.



The housekeeper and the two other servants who were in charge of the
nursery remained sitting up all night; and from that time a servant always
sat up in the nursery until I was about fourteen.



I was very nervous for a long time after this. A doctor was called in;