He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself,

"It is nothing but the wind in the chimney, it is only a mouse crossing the floor,"

or, "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp."

Yes he has been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions; but he had found all in vain.

And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel,

although he neither saw nor heard,

to feel the presence of my head within the room.