returned with a sword, which he always
kept in his bed-room, he said,--

"Now go, Henry. I prefer a weapon of this description to pistols much.
Do not be longer gone than necessary."

"I will not, George, be assured."

George was then left alone, and Henry returned to the balcony, where Mr.
Marchdale was waiting for him. It was a quicker mode of descending to
the garden to do so by clambering over the balcony than any other, and
the height was not considerable enough to make it very objectionable, so
Henry and Mr. Marchdale chose that way of joining Mr. Chillingworth.

"You are, no doubt, much surprised at finding me here," said the doctor;
"but the fact is, I half made up my mind to come while I was here; but I
had not thoroughly done so, therefore I said nothing to you about it."

"We are much indebted to you," said Henry, "for making the attempt."

"I am prompted to it by a feeling of the strongest curiosity."

"Are you armed, sir?" said Marchdale.

"In this stick," said the doctor, "is a sword, the exquisite temper of
which I know I can depend upon, and I fully intended to run through any
one whom I saw that looked in the least of the vampyre order."

"You would have done quite right," replied Mr. Marchdale. "I have a
brace of pistols here, loaded with ball; will you take one, Henry, if
you please, and then we shall be all armed."

Thus, then, prepared for any exigency, they made the whole round of the
house; but found all the fastenings secure, and everything as quiet as
possible.

"Suppose, now, we take a survey of the park outside the garden wall,"
said Mr. Marchdale.

This was agreed to; but before they had proceeded far, Mr. Marchdale
said,--

"There is a ladder lying on the wall; would it not be a good plan to
place it against the very spot the supposed vampyre jumped over last
night, and so, from a more elevated position, take a view of the open
meadows. We could easily drop down on the outer side, if we saw anything
suspicious."

"Not a bad plan," said the doctor. "Shall we do it?"

"Certainly," said Henry; and they accordingly carried the ladder, which
had been used for pruning the trees, towards the spot at the end of the
long walk, at which the vampyre had made good, after so many fruitless
efforts, his escape from the premises.

They made haste down the long vista of trees until they reached the
exact spot, and then they placed the ladder as near as possible, exactly
where Henry, in h