of the black horse were heard with pre-eminent loudness. At this time
the fire of the kitchen began to burn low; the sparkling blaze was gone,
and in its stead nothing but a dead red lustre emanated from the grate.
One candle had just expired, having burned down to the socket; of the
one which remained, the unsnuffed wick was nearly three inches in
length, black and crooked at the point, and standing like a ruined tower
amid an envelopement of sickly yellow flame; while around the fire's
equally decaying lustre sat the frightened _coterie_, narrowing their
circle as its brilliancy faded away, and eyeing each other like
apparitions amidst the increasing gloom.

"At this time the clock of the steeple struck the hour of midnight, and
the tread of the stranger suddenly ceased. There was a pause for some
minutes--afterwards a rustling--then a noise as of something drawn along
the floor of his room. In a moment thereafter his door opened; then it
shut with violence, and heavy footsteps were heard trampling down the
stair. The inmates of the kitchen shook with alarm as the tread came
nearer. They expected every moment to behold the Red Man enter, and
stand before them in his native character. The landlady fainted
outright: the exciseman followed her example: the landlord gasped in an
agony of terror: and the schoolmaster uttered a pious ejaculation for
the behoof of his soul. Dr. Poundtext was the only one who preserved any
degree of composure. He managed, in a trembling voice, to call out
'Avaunt, Satan! I exorcise thee from hence to the bottom of the Red
Sea!' 'I am going, as fast as I can,' said the stranger, as he passed
the kitchen-door on his way to the open air. His voice aroused the whole
conclave from their stupor. They started up, and by a simultaneous
effort rushed to the window. There they beheld the tall figure of a man,
enveloped in a black cloak, walking across the yard on his way to the
stable. He had on a broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat, top-boots, with