The author establishes a third-person limited point of view in these paragraphs. This perspective allows the reader to see the thoughts and feelings of Rainsford while maintaining an external narrative voice. We are privy to his thoughts about the darkness and the sense of drowsiness he feels, but we do not access the thoughts or feelings of any other characters. The focus remains on Rainsford's experience and reactions, especially with the sudden sound that interrupts his tranquility.
Rainsford, reclining in a steamer chair, indolently puffed on his favorite brier. The sensuous drowsiness of the night was on him. "It's so dark," he thought, "that I could sleep without closing my eyes; the night would be my eyelids——" An abrupt sound startled him. Off to the right he heard it, and his ears, expert in such matters, could not be mistaken. Again he heard the sound, and again. Somewhere, off in the blackness, someone had fired a gun three times. Which point of view does the author establish in these paragraphs?
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