fe I'll be satisfied an' 'appy. And
then I'll go where there's _real_ burnin', an' _real_ devils--an' let
'em make the most o' Slimy!"

Waymark felt his blood chill with horror. For years after, the face of
Slimy, as it thus glared at him, haunted him in dreamful nights. Dante
saw nothing more fearful in any circle of hell.

"Well, I've said my say," Slimy remarked, rising from his seat. "An'
now, I'm sorry I'll 'ave to ill-convenience you, Mr. Waymark. You've
behaved better to me than most has, and I wouldn't pay you in
ill-convenience, if I could help it. But I must have time enough to get
off clear. I'll 'ave jist to keep you from 'ollerin'--this way,
see--but I won't hurt you; the nose is good enough for breathin'. I'll
see as some one comes to let you out before to-morrow mornin'. An' now
I'll say good-bye, Mr. Waymark. You won't see Slimy in this world
again, an' if I only knowed 'ow to say a prayer, why, I'd pray as you
mightn't never see him in the next."

With one more look, a look at once of wild anticipation and friendly
regret, Slimy disappeared.

The relief consequent upon the certainty that no worse could happen had
brought Waymark into a state of mind in which he could regard his
position with equanimity. The loss of the money seemed now to be the
most serious result of the affair. Slimy had promised that release
should come before the morning, and would doubtless keep his word
Waymark had a certain confidence in this, which a less interested
person would perhaps have deemed scarcely warrantable. In the meantime,
the discomfort was not extreme to lie gagged and bound on a
garret-floor for some few hours was, after all, a situation which a
philosopher might patiently endure, and to an artist it might well be
suggestive of hints. Breathing, to be sure, was not easy, but became
more so by degrees.

But with the complete recollection of his faculties came back the
thought of what was involved in the question of release before the
following day. Early in the morning he had to be at the door of Tothill
Fields' Prison. How if his release were delayed, through Slimy's
neglect or that of the agent he might employ? As the first hour passed
slowly by, this became the chief anxiety in Waymark's mind. It made him
forgetful of the aching in his arms, caused by the bind ing together of
his hands behind him, and left no room for anticipation of the other
sufferings which would result from his being left thus for an