ore and more, and a little before York
he was fain to stretch himself upon one of the couches and suffer his
eyes to close; and almost at the same instant consciousness deserted the
young clergyman. His last thought was of his terrifying neighbour.

When he awoke it was still pitch dark, except for the flicker of the
veiled lamp; and the continual roaring and oscillation testified to the
unrelaxed velocity of the train. He sat upright in a panic, for he had
been tormented by the most uneasy dreams; it was some seconds before he
recovered his self-command; and even after he had resumed a recumbent
attitude sleep continued to flee him, and he lay awake with his brain in
a state of violent agitation, and his eyes fixed upon the lavatory door.
He pulled his clerical felt hat over his brow still further to shield
him from the light; and he adopted the usual expedients, such as
counting a thousand or banishing thought, by which experienced invalids
are accustomed to woo the approach of sleep. In the case of Mr. Rolles
they proved one and all vain; he was harassed by a dozen different
anxieties--the old man in the other end of the carriage haunted him in
the most alarming shapes; and in whatever attitude he chose to lie, the
diamond in his pocket occasioned him a sensible physical distress. It
burned, it was too large; it bruised his ribs; and there were
infinitesimal fractions of a second in which he had half a mind to throw
it from the window.

While he was thus lying, a strange incident took place.

The sliding-door into the lavatory stirred a little, and then a little
more, and was finally drawn back for the space of about twenty inches.
The lamp in the lavatory was unshaded, and in the lighted aperture thus
disclosed Mr. Rolles could see the head of Mr. Vandeleur in an attitude
of deep attention. He was conscious that the gaze of the Dictator rested
intently on his own face; and the instinct of self-preservation moved
him to hold his breath, to refrain from the least movement, and, keeping
his eyes lowered, to watch his visitor from underneath the lashes. After
about a moment, the head was withdrawn and the door of the lavatory
replaced.

The Dictator had not come to attack, but to observe; his action was not
that of a man threatening another, but that of a man who was himself
threatened; if Mr. Rolles was afraid of him, it appeared that he, in his
turn, was not quite easy on the score of Mr. Rolles. He had come, it
w