Conscience
Illustration★★★★Accusing, On one occasion, when I was at sea, a young gentleman rushed from his bed, while yet asleep, to the middle of the cabin, and, pointing to the floor, exclaimed, “There’s the blood! there’s the blood! yes, there’s the blood!’ Some of us rose, and finding that he was asleep, we awoke him and got him back to his bed. In the morning, a sprightly young gentleman, who had got intimate with him, was requested to ascertain the cause of the terrifying dream. In the evening he told us that the gentleman was an officer in the army, on his way to join his regiment in Sicily; that some time ago he had shot a brother officer in a duel, and ever since he had been disturbed in his rest, appearing downcast and sad even when perfectly awake.
He said it had been his custom every night to fasten his leg to the bed post, or to anything to which he could tie it, to prevent his getting out of bed; “but I found,” said he, “nothing of the kind in the ship bed.” Campbell.
The point
A guilt-ridden officer who killed a man in a duel cries out about blood in his sleep and ties himself to his bed each night, showing how a guilty conscience torments even in unconsciousness.