red
times more boisterous--a deep, loud, dismal bray, that sounded like a
human gong. Then, with every vein in his head and face swollen with the
great exertion, and his countenance suffused with a lively purple, he
drew a little nearer to the fire, and turning his back upon it, said
with dignity:

'If that's any comfort to anybody, they're welcome to it. If it an't,
I'm sorry for 'em. If either of you two gentlemen likes to go out and
see what's the matter, you can. I'm not curious, myself.'

While he spoke the cry drew nearer and nearer, footsteps passed the
window, the latch of the door was raised, it opened, was violently shut
again, and Solomon Daisy, with a lighted lantern in his hand, and the
rain streaming from his disordered dress, dashed into the room.

A more complete picture of terror than the little man presented, it
would be difficult to imagine. The perspiration stood in beads upon his
face, his knees knocked together, his every limb trembled, the power
of articulation was quite gone; and there he stood, panting for breath,
gazing on them with such livid ashy looks, that they were infected with
his fear, though ignorant of its occasion, and, reflecting his dismayed
and horror-stricken visage, stared back again without venturing to
question him; until old John Willet, in a fit of temporary insanity,
made a dive at his cravat, and, seizing him by that portion of his
dress, shook him to and fro until his very teeth appeared to rattle in
his head.

'Tell us what's the matter, sir,' said John, 'or I'll kill you. Tell us
what's the matter, sir, or in another second I'll have your head under
the biler. How dare you look like that? Is anybody a-following of you?
What do you mean? Say something, or I'll be the death of you, I will.'

Mr Willet, in his frenzy, was so near keeping his word to the very
letter (Solomon Daisy's eyes already beginning to roll in an alarming
manner, and certain guttural sounds, as of a choking man, to issue from
his throat), that the two bystanders, recovering in some degree,
plucked him off his victim by main force, and placed the little clerk
of Chigwell in a chair. Directing a fearful gaze all round the room, he
implored them in a faint voice to give him some drink; and above all to
lock the house-door and close and bar the shutters of the room, without
a moment's loss of time. The latter request did not tend to reassure
his hearers, or to fill them with the most comfortable sens