tance which induced him to inveigh bitterly
against his own folly, as well as the impertinence of his companions, who
had inveigled him into such a troublesome adventure. Neither he nor
Clarke could be prevailed upon to revisit the novice. The doctor himself
thought his disease was desperate; and, mounting his horse, returned to
his own habitation.

Ferret, finding all the beds in the public-house were occupied, composed
himself to sleep in a Windsor chair at the chimney corner; and Mr.
Clarke, whose disposition was extremely amorous, resolved to renew his
practices on the heart of Dolly. He had reconnoitred the apartments in
which the bodies of the knight and his squire were deposited, and
discovered close by the top of the staircase a sort of a closet or hovel,
just large enough to contain a truckle bed, which, from some other
particulars, he supposed to be the bedchamber of his beloved Dolly, who
had by this time retired to her repose. Full of this idea, and
instigated by the demon of desire, Mr. Thomas crept softly upstairs, and
lifting the latch of the closet door, his heart began to palpitate with
joyous expectation; but before he could breathe the gentle effusions of
his love, the supposed damsel started up and seizing him by the collar
with a Herculean gripe, uttered, in the voice of Crabshaw, "It wan't for
nothing that I dreamed of Newgate, sirrah; but I'd have thee to know, an
arrant squire is not to be robbed by such a peddling thief as thee--here
I'll howld thee vast, an the devil were in thy doublet--help! murder!
vire! help!"

It was impossible for Mr. Clarke to disengage himself, and equally
impracticable to speak in his own vindication; so that here he stood
trembling and half throttled, until the whole house being alarmed, the
landlady and her ostler ran upstairs with a candle. When the light
rendered objects visible, an equal astonishment prevailed on all sides;
Crabshaw was confounded at sight of Mr. Clarke, whose person he well
knew; and releasing him instantly from his grasp, "Bodikins!" cried he,
"I believe as how this hause is haunted--who thought to meet with Measter
Laawyer Clarke at midnight, and so far from hoam?" The landlady could
not comprehend the meaning of this encounter; nor could Tom conceive how
Crabshaw had transported himself thither from the room below, in which he
saw him quietly reposed. Yet nothing was more easy than to explain this
mystery: the apartment below was the c