e
countenance of any dead man he ever saw, presented himself.

'Walk in, sir,' he said in a low tone.

The surgeon did so, and the man having secured the door again, by the
chain, led the way to a small back parlour at the extremity of the
passage.

'Am I in time?'

'Too soon!' replied the man. The surgeon turned hastily round, with a
gesture of astonishment not unmixed with alarm, which he found it
impossible to repress.

'If you'll step in here, sir,' said the man, who had evidently noticed
the action--'if you'll step in here, sir, you won't be detained five
minutes, I assure you.'

The surgeon at once walked into the room. The man closed the door, and
left him alone.

It was a little cold room, with no other furniture than two deal chairs,
and a table of the same material. A handful of fire, unguarded by any
fender, was burning in the grate, which brought out the damp if it served
no more comfortable purpose, for the unwholesome moisture was stealing
down the walls, in long slug-like tracks. The window, which was broken
and patched in many places, looked into a small enclosed piece of ground,
almost covered with water. Not a sound was to be heard, either within
the house, or without. The young surgeon sat down by the fireplace, to
await the result of his first professional visit.

He had not remained in this position many minutes, when the noise of some
approaching vehicle struck his ear. It stopped; the street-door was
opened; a low talking succeeded, accompanied with a shuffling noise of
footsteps, along the passage and on the stairs, as if two or three men
were engaged in carrying some heavy body to the room above. The creaking
of the stairs, a few seconds afterwards, announced that the new-comers
having completed their task, whatever it was, were leaving the house.
The door was again closed, and the former silence was restored.

Another five minutes had elapsed, and the surgeon had resolved to explore
the house, in search of some one to whom he might make his errand known,
when the room-door opened, and his last night's visitor, dressed in
exactly the same manner, with the veil lowered as before, motioned him to
advance. The singular height of her form, coupled with the circumstance
of her not speaking, caused the idea to pass across his brain for an
instant, that it might be a man disguised in woman's attire. The
hysteric sobs which issued from beneath the veil, and the convulsive
attitude