ch at first
had seemed too monstrous to be at all credited, it may well be supposed
what a wonderful sensation was produced among the gossip-mongers of the
neighbourhood by the exaggerated reports that had reached them.

The servants, who had left the Hall on no other account, as they
declared, but sheer fright at the awful visits of the vampyre, spread
the news far and wide, so that in the adjoining villages and
market-towns the vampyre of Bannerworth Hall became quite a staple
article of conversation.

Such a positive godsend for the lovers of the marvellous had not
appeared in the country side within the memory of that sapient
individual--the oldest inhabitant.

And, moreover, there was one thing which staggered some people of better
education and maturer judgments, and that was, that the more they took
pains to inquire into the matter, in order, if possible, to put an end
to what they considered a gross lie from the commencement, the more
evidence they found to stagger their own senses upon the subject.

Everywhere then, in every house, public as well as private, something
was being continually said of the vampyre. Nursery maids began to think
a vampyre vastly superior to "old scratch and old bogie" as a means of
terrifying their infant charges into quietness, if not to sleep, until
they themselves became too much afraid upon the subject to mention it.

But nowhere was gossiping carried on upon the subject with more
systematic fervour than at an inn called the Nelson's Arms, which was in
the high street of the nearest market town to the Hall.

There, it seemed as if the lovers of the horrible made a point of
holding their head quarters, and so thirsty did the numerous discussions
make the guests, that the landlord was heard to declare that he, from
his heart, really considered a vampyre as very nearly equal to a
contested election.

It was towards evening of the same day that Marchdale and Henry made
their visit to Sir Francis Varney, that a postchaise drew up to the inn
we have mentioned. In the vehicle were two persons of exceedingly
dissimilar appearance and general aspect.

One of these people was a man who seemed fast verging upon seventy years
of age, although, from his still ruddy and embrowned complexion and
stentorian voice, it was quite evident he intended yet to keep time at
arm's-length for many years to come.

He was attired in ample and expensive clothing, but every article had a
naval animu