CHAPTER XV 186
my chamber-door was touched ; as if fingers had swept the panels in groping a way along the dark gallery outside . I said , " Who is there ?" Nothing answered . I was chilled with fear .
All at once I remembered that it might be Pilot , who , when the kitchen-door chanced to be left open , not unfrequently found his way up to the threshold of Mr . Rochester ' s chamber : I had seen him lying there myself in the mornings . The idea calmed me somewhat : I lay down . Silence composes the nerves ; and as an unbroken hush now reigned again through the whole house , I began to feel the return of slumber . But it was not fated that I should sleep that night . A dream had scarcely approached my ear , when it fled affrighted , scared by a marrow-freezing incident enough .
This was a demoniac laugh -- low , suppressed , and deep -- uttered , as it seemed , at the very keyhole of my chamber door . The head of my bed was near the door , and I thought at first the goblin-laugher stood at my bedside -- or rather , crouched by my pillow : but I rose , looked round , and could see nothing ; while , as I still gazed , the unnatural sound was reiterated : and I knew it came from behind the panels . My first impulse was to rise and fasten the bolt ; my next , again to cry out , " Who is there ?"
Something gurgled and moaned . Ere long , steps retreated up the gallery towards the third-storey staircase : a door had lately been made to shut in that staircase ; I heard it open and close , and all was still .
" Was that Grace Poole ? and is she possessed with a devil ?" thought I . Impossible now to remain longer by myself : I must go to Mrs . Fairfax . I hurried on my frock and a shawl ; I withdrew the bolt and opened the door with a trembling hand . There was a candle burning just outside , and on the matting in the gallery . I was surprised at this circumstance : but still more was I amazed to perceive the air quite dim , as if filled with smoke ; and , while looking to the right hand and left , to find whence these blue wreaths issued , I became further aware of a strong smell of burning .
Something creaked : it was a door ajar ; and that door was Mr . Rochester ' s , and the smoke rushed in a cloud from thence . I thought no more of Mrs .