he was familiar
with the worst of company; care and anxiety gradually crept over his
countenance; he had, it seemed, commenced a system of fraud upon his
employers and been detected; grief and despair threw over him their
frightful shadows; pale and dejected, he pleaded for mercy, for the sake
of his father, in the most abject terms. He now spoke with energy and
connection--it was to his companions in jail; but hope had fled, and a
shameful death seemed to him inevitable.

His trial came on. He proceeded to court--his lips appeared pale and
parched--a convulsive quiver agitated the lower muscles of his face and
neck--he seemed to breathe with difficulty--his head sank lower upon
the hand that supported it--he had been condemned--he was now in his
solitary cell--his murmurs breathed repentance and devotion--his
sufferings appeared to be so intense that large drops of perspiration
stood upon his forehead--he was engaged with the clergyman, preparing
for death. Remembering what I had suffered in my own dreams, I resolved
to awake him, and, to do so, gave the arm that lay upon the table a
gentle shake. A shudder passed over his frame, and he sank upon the
floor.

All that I have narrated had occurred in a space of time remarkably
short. I rose to lift him to his seat, and make an apology for the
surprise I had given him; but he was quite unconscious. The noise of his
fall had alarmed the landlady, who, with several of the guests, entered
as I was stooping with him in my arms, attempting to raise him. I was so
much shocked when I found the state he was in, that I let him drop, and
recoiled back in horror, exclaiming, "Good God! have I killed him! Send
for a surgeon." The idea that I had endeavoured to awake him in an
improper time came with strong conviction upon me, and forced the words
out of my mouth.

They raised him up and placed him on his seat. I could not offer the
smallest assistance. Every effort was used to restore him in vain, and a
surgeon sent for, but life had fled. During all this time I had remained
in a stupor of mind; suspicion fell upon me that I had murdered him; I
had been alone with him, and seen stooping over the body when they
entered; and my exclamation at the time, and my confusion, were all
construed as sure tokens of my guilt. I was strictly guarded until a
coroner's inquest could be held upon the body.

I told the whole circumstances as they had occurred; but my narrative
made not the small