peered at the posters, to see when the next ship
sailed for the United States. Still he did go.

Intent on his own schemes, and expecting
every day to be struck in front, he did not
observe that a man in a rusty velveteen coat followed
him, and observed this act; and indeed all his
visible acts.

Another perplexity was, when he should break.
There were objections to doing it immediately;
and objections to putting it off.

With all this the man was in a ferment: by
day he sat waiting and fearing, by night he lay
sleepless and thinking; and, though his stoical
countenance retained its composure, the furrows
deepened in it, and the iron nerves began to
twitch at times, from strain of mind and
want of sleep, and that rack, suspense. Not a
night that he did not awaken a dozen times from
his brief dozes with a start, and a dread of
exposure by some mysterious, unforeseen, means.

It is remarkable how truths sometimes flash on
men at night in hours of nervous excitement: it
was in one of these nightly reveries David Dodd's
pocket-book flashed back upon Mr. Hardie.
He saw it before his eyes quite plain, and on the
inside of the leather cover a slip of paper pasted,
and written on in pencil or pale ink, he could not
recal which.

What was that writing? It might be the
numbers of the notes, the description of the bills.
Why had he not taken it out of the dying man's
pocket? "Fool! fool!" he groaned; "to do
anything by halves."

Another night he got a far severer shock.
Lying in his bed dozing and muttering, as usual,
he was suddenly startled out of that uneasy
slumber by three tremendous knocks at the
street door.

He sprang out of bed, and in his confusion
made sure the officers of justice were come for
him: he began to huddle on his clothes with a
vague notion of flight.

He had got on his trousers and slippers, and
was looking under his pillow for the fatal cash,
when he heard himself called loudly and
repeatedly by name; but this time the sound
came from the garden into which his bedroom
looked. He opened it very softly, in trepidation
and wonder, which were speedily doubled by
what met his eyes; for there, right in front of
his window, stood an unearthly figure;
corresponding in every particular to that notion of a
ghost in which we are reared, and which, when
our nerves are healthy, we can ridicule as it
deserves; but somehow it is never cleaned out of
our imagination so thoroughly as it is out of our
judgment.

The figure was white as a sheet, and seemed
supernaturally tall; and it cried out in a voice
like a wounded lion's, " You villain! you
Hardie! give me back my money: my fourteen
thousand pounds. Give me my children's money,
or may your children die before your eyes: give
me my darlings' money; or may the eternal curse
of God light on you and yours, you scoundrel!"

And the figure kneeled on the grass, and
repeated the terrible imprecation almost in the
same words; that Hardie shrank back, and,
resolute as he was, cowered with superstitious awe.

But this sentiment soon gave way to vulgar
fears; the man would alarm the town. And in
fact Mr. Hardie, in the midst of his agitation,
was dimly conscious of hearing a window open
softly, not very far from him. But it was a dark
night. He put his head out in great agitation,
and whispered, " Hush! hush! And I'll bring
it you down directly."

Internally cursing his hard fate, he got the
fatal cash; put on his coat: hunted for the key
of the Bank parlour, and, having found it, went
softly down the stairs, unlocked the door, and
went to open the shutters.

At this moment his ear caught a murmur; a
low buzzing of voices in the garden.

He naturally thought that Captain Dodd was
exposing him to some of the townspeople; he
was puzzled what to do; and, like a cautious
man as he was, remained passive, but on the
watch.

Presently the voices were quiet, and he heard
footsteps come very slowly towards the window
at which he stood, and then make for the little
gate. On this he slipped into the kitchen, which
faced the street, and got to a window there, and
listened. His only idea was to catch their
intentions, if possible, and meet them accordingly.
He dared not open the window; for above him
on the pavement he saw a female figure half
standing, half crouching: but soon that figure
rushed wildly out of his sight to meet the
footsteps, and then he ventured to open the window,
and, listening, heard cries of despair, and a young
heartbroken voice say her father was dead.

"Ah!— that is all right," muttered Hardie.

Still even this profound egotist was not yet
so hardened, but that he felt one chill of horror
at himself for the thought; a passing chill.

He listened and listened; and by-and-by he
heard the slow feet recommence their journey,
amidst sobs and sighs; and those sorrowful feet,
and the sobs and sighs of his causing, got fainter
and fainter, retreated, and left him in quiet
possession of the fourteen thousand pounds he had
brought down to give it up: two minutes ago it
was not worth as many pence to him.

He drew a long breath of relief. " It is mine;
I am to keep it. It is the will of Heaven."

Poor Heaven!

He went to his bed again, and by a resolute
effort composed himself, and determined to sleep.
And in fact he was just dropping off, when
suddenly he started wide awake again: for it
recurred to him vividly that a window in his
house had opened, while David was cursing
him, and demanding his children's money.
Whose window?

Half a dozen people and more slept on that
side of the house.

Whose window could it be?

He walked among fires.