ad been faced with Dutch tiles, representing scripture
stories; but some of them had fallen out of their places, and lay
shattered about the hearth. The sexton had lit the rushlight; and the
doctor, looking fearfully about the room, was just exhorting Dolph to
be of good cheer, and to pluck up a stout heart, when a noise in the
chimney, like voices and struggling, struck a sudden panic into the
sexton. He took to his heels with the lantern; the doctor followed
hard after him; the stairs groaned and creaked as they hurried down,
increasing their agitation and speed by its noises. The front door
slammed after them; and Dolph heard them scrabbling down the avenue,
till the sound of their feet was lost in the distance. That he did not
join in this precipitate retreat, might have been owing to his
possessing a little more courage than his companions, or perhaps that
he had caught a glimpse of the cause of their dismay, in a nest of
chimney swallows, that came tumbling down into the fire-place.

Being now left to himself, he secured the front door by a strong bolt
and bar; and having seen that the other entrances were fastened, he
returned to his desolate chamber. Having made his supper from the
basket which the good old cook had provided, he locked the chamber
door, and retired to rest on a mattress in one corner. The night was
calm and still; and nothing broke upon the profound quiet but the
lonely chirping of a cricket from the chimney of a distant chamber.
The rushlight, which stood in the centre of the deal table, shed a
feeble yellow ray, dimly illumining the chamber, and making uncouth
shapes and shadows on the walls, from the clothes which Dolph had
thrown over a chair.

With all his boldness of heart, there was something subduing in this
desolate scene; and he felt his spirits flag within him, as he lay on
his hard bed and gazed about the room. He was turning over in his mind
his idle habits, his doubtful prospects, and now and then heaving a
heavy sigh, as he thought on his poor old mother; for there is nothing
like the silence and loneliness of night to bring dark shadows over
the brightest mind. By-and-by, he thought he heard a sound as if
some one was walking below stairs. He listened, and distinctly heard
a step on the great staircase. It approached solemnly and slowly,
tramp--tramp--tramp! It was evidently the tread of some heavy personage;
and yet how could he have got into the house without making a noise?