ay down at full length; but, instead of falling asleep
at once, my thoughts turned to the past, and I seemed to live over again
every interview I had ever had with Captain Knowlton. When I remembered
his cheerful personality, it seemed impossible to realise that he could
be dead, and yet by this time I had not the slightest hope of ever
seeing him again. I tried to dwell on Mr. Bosanquet's encouraging words,
but it was useless to-night as I lay watching the lightning; and,
oppressed by grief at Captain Knowlton's loss, I could not keep back a
few tears. Then I must have fallen asleep, for, I know not how much
later, although the kitchen was still in total blackness, I found myself
sitting up, and thinking for the moment that I was back in my room with
Smythe and the other fellows at Mr. Turton's. Before I had quite
realised the actual surroundings, I grew cold from head to foot, with
that uncomfortable sensation called goose-flesh, as if every individual
hair were standing on end. My teeth began to chatter as I strained my
ears to listen.

There could be no doubt about it. I could distinctly hear a low, pitiful
weeping apparently just above my head. That the sounds came from some
human being in intense distress I entertained no doubt whatever, and
yet, inconsistently enough, I felt frightened out of my wits. Rising, I
felt my way by the empty dresser to the door, and there stood listening.
Still the melancholy sound continued; such a dismal wailing as I had
never heard before. How I longed for the day to break, or even for the
lightning, which had now ceased, although in unison with the sounds of
continuous weeping I heard the rain beating against the window-panes.

Afraid to open the door, feeling that I would gladly endure any penalty
in exchange for a box of matches, I did not make the least attempt to go
to sleep again, but stood close to the kitchen window on the look-out
for the first sign of dawn. Never had time seemed to pass so slowly. The
sounds of mice in one corner made me shudder, and for once in my life I
was thoroughly and shamefully terrified.

The first shade of grey on the ceiling caused a feeling of intense
relief, and I began to upbraid myself for timidity. As the light gained
brightness, courage returned, and when at last it was day, although
nothing could have appeared much more dismal than the outlook from the
window, I determined to pull myself together and to make a tour of
inspection.

(_Co