as blue as _brimstone_ itself. In short, the light which it
gave must have been a thousand times more appalling than that of those
flames which Milton emphatically calls "darkness visible."

Jock, however, still continued to sleep, till it uttered a hollow
groan, which awakened him; and then, rubbing his eyes, to make certain
that he was not still dreaming, he stared at it in inexpressible
terror. It returned his stare with a steady look of defiance and a
horrible grin, which seemed to make the blood curdle at the remotest
extremity of his body. It, however, appeared willing to abide by the
law of ghosts, and to wait in silence till it should be spoken to. But
Jock had already lost the power of speech. His erected hair had nearly
thrown off his nightcap; his tongue seemed to have fallen back into
his throat; not even a scream of terror could he utter, far less an
articulate sound; and it might have waited till morning, or till the
end of time, before an accent of his had set it at liberty to deliver
its message. But here it showed itself possessed of something like
"business habits," or at least of ten times more sense than the
majority of those ghosts who, "at the crowing of the cock," have been
obliged to run off without having effected anything except perhaps
frightening some rustic nearly out of his wits. When _it_ saw no
prospect of being spoken to, it spoke; and in this its example should
be imitated by all future ghosts.

"Jock Jervis," it said, in tones so hollow and so sepulchral, that no
further doubts could be entertained of its authority--"Jock Jervis,
ye ken the promises and the solemn oaths ye've made already to Nelly
Kilgour; and if ye dinna fulfil thae promises, and mak her yer married
wife afore a fortnicht is at an end, ye maun gang to hell-fire, to be
burned for a mis-sworn loon. And mair than a' that, if ye prove
fause-hearted, I'll choke ye wi' this windin-sheet, and fling ye owre
my shouther, and carry ye to Arangask kirkyard, and gie ye to the
witches, to pick your banes ahint the aisle, afore ye get leave to
gang aff the earth."

Having uttered this terrible malediction, it shook its winding-sheet,
and then waved the candle round its head. The _white_ part of the
flame immediately disappeared; the _blue_ parted into a thousand
fragments, and flew through the apartment in as many directions, like
infernal meteors.

While these appalling phenomena were passing before the eyes of the
terrified