But , with returning recollection , she hushed herself and was still as death , for it seemed as if other voices , familiar in infancy and unforgotten through many wanderings and in all the vicissitudes of her heart and fortune , were mingling with the accents of the prayer . At first the words were faint and indistinct -- not rendered so by distance , but rather resembling the dim pages of a book which we strive to read by an imperfect and gradually brightening light . In such a manner , as the prayer proceeded , did those voices strengthen upon the ear , till at length the petition ended , and the conversation of an aged man and of a woman broken and decayed like himself became distinctly audible to the lady as she knelt . But those strangers appeared not to stand in the hollow depth between the three hills . Their voices were encompassed and re-echoed by the walls of a chamber the windows of which were rattling in the breeze ; the regular vibration of a clock , the crackling of a fire and the tinkling of the embers as they fell among the ashes rendered the scene almost as vivid as if painted to the eye . By a melancholy hearth sat these two old people , the man calmly despondent , the woman querulous and tearful , and their words were all of sorrow . They spoke of a daughter , a wanderer they knew not where , bearing dishonor along with her and leaving shame and affliction to bring their gray heads to the grave . They alluded also to other and more recent woe , but in the midst of their talk their voices seemed to melt into the sound of the wind sweeping mournfully among the autumn leaves ; and when the lady lifted her eyes , there was she kneeling in the hollow between three hills . `` A weary and lonesome time yonder old couple have of it , '' remarked the old woman , smiling in the lady 's face . `` And did you also hear them ? '' exclaimed she , a sense of intolerable humiliation triumphing over her agony and fear . `` Yea , and we have yet more to hear , '' replied the old woman , `` wherefore cover thy face quickly . '' Again the withered hag poured forth the monotonous words of a prayer that was not meant to be acceptable in heaven , and soon in the pauses of her breath strange murmurings began to thicken , gradually increasing , so as to drown and overpower the charm by which they grew . Shrieks pierced through the obscurity of sound and were succeeded by the singing of sweet female voices , which in their turn gave way to a wild roar of laughter broken suddenly by groanings and sobs , forming altogether a ghastly confusion of terror and mourning and mirth . Chains were rattling , fierce and stern voices uttered threats and the scourge resounded at their command . All these noises deepened and became substantial to the listener 's ear , till she could distinguish every soft and dreamy accent of the love-songs that died causelessly into funeral-hymns . She shuddered at the unprovoked wrath which blazed up like the spontaneous kindling of flume , and she grew faint at the fearful merriment raging miserably around her . In the midst of this wild scene , where unbound passions jostled each other in a drunken career , there was one solemn voice of a man , and a manly and melodious voice it might once have been . He went to and fro continually , and his feet sounded upon the floor . In each member of that frenzied company whose own burning thoughts had become their exclusive world he sought an auditor for the story of his individual wrong , and interpreted their laughter and tears as his reward of scorn or pity .
He spoke of woman 's perfidy , XXXXX a wife who had broken her holiest vows , of a home and heart made desolate .
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