its?--what is the matter?"

"The matter?--oh, it is all over. It must have been a dream--nothing at
all but a dream--don't you think so? It could not be anything more than
a dream."

"Of _course_" said I, feeling uncommonly nervous, "it _was_ a dream."

"I thought," he said, "there was a man in my room, and--and I jumped out
of bed; and--and--where's the candle?"

"In your room, most likely," I said, "shall I go and bring it?"

"No; stay here--don't go; it's no matter--don't, I tell you; it was all
a dream. Bolt the door, Dick; I'll stay here with you--I feel nervous.
So, Dick, like a good fellow, light your candle and open the window--I
am in a _shocking state_."

I did as he asked me, and robing himself like Granuaile in one of my
blankets, he seated himself close beside my bed.

Every body knows how contagious is fear of all sorts, but more
especially that particular kind of fear under which poor Tom was at that
moment labouring. I would not have heard, nor I believe would he have
recapitulated, just at that moment, for half the world, the details of
the hideous vision which had so unmanned him.

"Don't mind telling me anything about your nonsensical dream, Tom," said
I, affecting contempt, really in a panic; "let us talk about something
else; but it is quite plain that this dirty old house disagrees with us
both, and hang me if I stay here any longer, to be pestered with
indigestion and--and--bad nights, so we may as well look out for
lodgings--don't you think so?--at once."

Tom agreed, and, after an interval, said----

"I have been thinking, Richard, that it is a long time since I saw my
father, and I have made up my mind to go down to-morrow and return in a
day or two, and you can take rooms for us in the meantime."

I fancied that this resolution, obviously the result of the vision which
had so profoundly scared him, would probably vanish next morning with
the damps and shadows of night. But I was mistaken. Off went Tom at peep
of day to the country, having agreed that so soon as I had secured
suitable lodgings, I was to recall him by letter from his visit to my
Uncle Ludlow.

Now, anxious as I was to change my quarters, it so happened, owing to a
series of petty procrastinations and accidents, that nearly a week
elapsed before my bargain was made and my letter of recall on the wing
to Tom; and, in the meantime, a trifling adventure or two had occurred
to your humble servant, which, absurd as they