voices and full of faces that make my waking a worse dream than my
sleep? Ah, young sir, you have no past that can send its legions to
people the darkness and the empty space, and I pray the good God that
you may never have!' As he spoke, there was such an almost
irresistible gravity of conviction in his manner that I abandoned my
remonstrance about his solitary life. I felt that I was in the
presence of some secret influence which I could not fathom. To my
relief, for I knew not what to say, he went on:

'Two nights past have I dreamed it. It was hard enough the first
night, but I came through it. Last night the expectation was in itself
almost worse than the dream--until the dream came, and then it swept
away every remembrance of lesser pain. I stayed awake till just
before the dawn, and then it came again, and ever since I have been in
such an agony as I am sure the dying feel, and with it all the dread
of tonight.' Before he had got to the end of the sentence my mind was
made up, and I felt that I could speak to him more cheerfully.

'Try and get to sleep early tonight--in fact, before the evening has
passed away. The sleep will refresh you, and I promise you there will
not be any bad dreams after tonight.' He shook his head hopelessly, so
I sat a little longer and then left him.

When I got home I made my arrangements for the night, for I had made
up my mind to share Jacob Settle's lonely vigil in his cottage on the
moor. I judged that if he got to sleep before sunset he would wake
well before midnight, and so, just as the bells of the city were
striking eleven, I stood opposite his door armed with a bag, in which
were my supper, an extra large flask, a couple of candles, and a book.
The moonlight was bright, and flooded the whole moor, till it was
almost as light as day; but ever and anon black clouds drove across
the sky, and made a darkness which by comparison seemed almost
tangible. I opened the door softly, and entered without waking Jacob,
who lay asleep with his white face upward. He was still, and again
bathed in sweat. I tried to imagine what visions were passing before
those closed eyes which could bring with them the misery and woe which
were stamped on the face, but fancy failed me, and I waited for the
awakening. It came suddenly, and in a fashion which touched me to the
quick, for the hollow groan that broke from the man's white lips as he
half arose and sank back was manifestly the realisation or