dawdled over it every day out of
sheer inanition, it only yielded me a sort of excuse for silence. Astraea
saw that I used it as a refuge against a _tete-a-tete_ after breakfast,
and had the good sense to provide herself with other occupations, so
that she should not seem to be deserted for the newspaper!

This was all very well in the morning. But when the rapid darkness fell,
and evening and night came, how was time to be filled? It was not always
pleasant to sit listening to the savage roar of the waters across the
high road in front of our windows, or to watch the flickering of the
lights, or the ripple of the curtain, as the wind, forcing its way into
the house in spite of all precautions, exhibited a special curiosity to
investigate every cranny of our small apartment. We had no resource but
to talk. Reading, as a habit, under such circumstances, with a fear and
doubt upon our minds, which had latterly grown terribly alarming, from
the interval of time that had elapsed without one word to clear up the
mystery that haunted us, would have driven us mad. We were compelled to
turn to each other, and talk in those dismal winter nights; and as the
one subject was insensibly acquiring a monopoly of our thoughts, we
could not help constantly reverting to it. At last we brooded so much
over it, that, whatever subject we began upon, we were sure to drop into
and end with that.

It was natural we should be much occupied with a matter which concerned
us so deeply. Five months had now passed away since the night we last
saw the dwarf, and we had a right to suppose that, if he still lived,
his vengeance was not idle. Yet we had never heard of him, although, had
he taken any steps to trace us, they must have reached me through the
channel by which all other communications were conveyed to me. Had he
abandoned the revenge he had threatened us with, or were all animosities
between us discharged in the grave? My belief was, that he was
dead--judging partly from his wound, and the dreadful excitement he had
undergone, which was not unlikely to prove fatal to a frame so liable to
snap from any violent action. Astraea thought otherwise: she was
convinced that he still lived, and that he was cherishing some subtle
scheme to destroy us. She said that she knew him better than I did, and
over and over again cautioned me to be upon my guard. I urged the
necessity of endeavoring to obtain the requisite information, to set
our doubts at re