ve got back again without her seeing or
hearing him was beyond her comprehension. It could only have been by
passing behind her very quietly while she was bumping with the iron. But
this notion did not satisfy her: it was surely impossible that she should
not have seen him come in through a room so small. She could not unravel
the mystery, and felt very queer and uncomfortable about it. However,
she would not disturb him to question him then, and went to bed herself.

'He rose and left for his work very early the next morning, before she
was awake, and she waited his return to breakfast with much anxiety for
an explanation, for thinking over the matter by daylight made it seem
only the more startling. When he came in to the meal he said, before she
could put her question, "What's the meaning of them words chalked on the
door?"

'She told him, and asked him about his going out the night before.
William declared that he had never left the bedroom after entering it,
having in fact undressed, lain down, and fallen asleep directly, never
once waking till the clock struck five, and he rose up to go to his
labour.

'Betty Privett was as certain in her own mind that he did go out as she
was of her own existence, and was little less certain that he did not
return. She felt too disturbed to argue with him, and let the subject
drop as though she must have been mistaken. When she was walking down
Longpuddle street later in the day she met Jim Weedle's daughter Nancy,
and said, "Well, Nancy, you do look sleepy to-day!"

'"Yes, Mrs. Privett," says Nancy. "Now don't tell anybody, but I don't
mind letting you know what the reason o't is. Last night, being Old
Midsummer Eve, some of us went to church porch, and didn't get home till
near one."

'"Did ye?" says Mrs. Privett. "Old Midsummer yesterday was it? Faith I
didn't think whe'r 'twas Midsummer or Michaelmas; I'd too much work to
do."

'"Yes. And we were frightened enough, I can tell 'ee, by what we saw."

'"What did ye see?"

'(You may not remember, sir, having gone off to foreign parts so young,
that on Midsummer Night it is believed hereabout that the faint shapes of
all the folk in the parish who are going to be at death's door within the
year can be seen entering the church. Those who get over their illness
come out again after a while; those that are doomed to die do not
return.)

'"What did you see?" asked William's wife.

'"Well," says Nancy, backwar