ive. I can swear the words and the voice were the very same I had
heard on the occasion I have mentioned, but (and mark this) repeated to
_no one_. With feelings which I shall not attempt to describe, I heard
the speaker approach the bed--a hand parted the bed-curtains and drew
them open, revealing a form more horrible than my fancy had ever
seen--an almost gigantic figure--naked, except for what might well have
been the rotten remnant of a shroud--stood close beside my bed--livid
and cadaverous--grimed as it seemed with the dust of the grave, and
staring on me with a gaze of despair, malignity, and fury, too intense
almost for human endurance.

I can not say whether I spoke or not, but this infernal spectre answered
me as if I had.

"I am dead and yet alive," it said, "the child of perdition--in the
grave I am a murderer, but here I am APOLLYON. Fall down and worship
me."

Having thus spoken, it stood for a moment at the bedside, and then
turned away with a shuddering moan, and I lost sight of it, but after a
few seconds it came again to the bedside as before.

"When I died they put me under Mervyn's tombstone, and they did not bury
me. My feet lie toward the _west_--turn them to the east and I will
rest--maybe I will rest--I will rest--rest--rest."

Again the figure was gone, and once again it returned, and said,

"I am your master--I am your resurrection and your life, and therefore,
fall down and worship me."

It made a motion to mount upon the bed, but what further passed I know
not, for I fainted.

I must have lain in this state for a long time, for when I became
conscious the fire was almost extinct. For hours that seemed
interminable I lay, scarcely daring to breathe, and afraid to get up
lest I should encounter the hideous apparition, for aught I knew,
lurking close beside me. I lay, therefore, in an agony of expectation
such as I will not attempt to describe, awaiting the appearance of the
daylight.

Gradually it came, and with it the cheerful and reassuring sounds of
life and occupation. At length I mustered courage to reach the
bell-rope, and having rung lustily, I plunged again into bed.

"Draw the window-curtains--open the shutters," I exclaimed as the man
entered, and, these orders executed, "look about the room," I added,
"and see whether a cat or any other animal has got in."

There was nothing of the sort; and satisfied that my visitant was no
longer in the chamber, I dismissed the man, a