The morning was passed in alarm and excitement.  It was now one o’clock, and still no tidings.  I ran up to Carmilla’s room, and found her standing at her dressing table.  I was astounded.  I could not believe my eyes.  She beckoned me to her with her pretty finger, in silence.  Her face expressed extreme fear.

I ran to her in an ecstasy of joy; I kissed and embraced her again and again.  I ran to the bell and rang it vehemently, to bring others to the spot who might at once relieve my father’s anxiety.

“Dear Carmilla, what has become of you all this time?  We have been in agonies of anxiety about you,” I exclaimed.  “Where have you been?  How did you come back?”

“Last night has been a night of wonders,” she said.

“For mercy’s sake, explain all you can.”

“It was past two last night,” she said, “when I went to sleep as usual in my bed, with my doors locked, that of the dressing room, and that opening upon the gallery.  My sleep was uninterrupted, and, so far as I know, dreamless; but I woke just now on the sofa in the dressing room there, and I found the door between the rooms open, and the other door forced.  How could all this have happened without my being wakened?  It must have been accompanied with a great deal of noise, and I am particularly easily wakened; and how could I have been carried out of my bed without my sleep having been interrupted, I whom the slightest stir startles?”

By this time, Madame, Mademoiselle, my father, and a number of the servants were in the room.  Carmilla was, of course, overwhelmed with inquiries, congratulations, and welcomes.  She had but one story to tell, and seemed the least able of all the party to suggest any way of accounting for what had happened.

My father took a turn up and down the room, thinking.  I saw Carmilla’s eye follow him for a moment with a sly, dark glance.

When my father had sent the servants away, Mademoiselle having gone in search of a little bottle of valerian and salvolatile, and there being no one now in the room with Carmilla, except my father, Madame, and myself, he came to her thoughtfully, took her hand very kindly, led her to the sofa, and sat down beside her.

“Will you forgive me, my dear, if I risk a conjecture, and ask a question?”

“Who can have a better right?” she said.  “Ask what you please, and I will tell you everything.  But my story is simply one of bewilderment and darkness.  I know absolutely nothing.  Put any question you please, but you know, of course, the limitations mamma has placed me under.”

“Perfectly, my dear child.  I need not approach the topics on which she desires our silence.  Now, the marvel of last night consists in your having been removed from your bed and your room, without being wakened, and this removal having occurred apparently while the windows were still secured, and the two doors locked upon the inside.  I will tell you my theory and ask you a question.”