that he was 'dead as a door-nail, so there was an end,' returned their
verdict accordingly, just as he returned to his senses, when an angry
altercation and a pitched battle between the body and the coroner winds
up the lay with due spirit and pleasantry.

"Through this ballad I continued with a weary monotony to plod, down to
the very last line, and then _da capo_, and so on, in my uncomfortable
half-sleep, for how long, I can't conjecture. I found myself at last,
however, muttering, '_dead_ as a door-nail, so there was an end'; and
something like another voice within me, seemed to say, very faintly, but
sharply, 'dead! dead! _dead_! and may the Lord have mercy on your soul!'
and instantaneously I was wide awake, and staring right before me from
the pillow.

"Now--will you believe it, Dick?--I saw the same accursed figure
standing full front, and gazing at me with its stony and fiendish
countenance, not two yards from the bedside."

Tom stopped here, and wiped the perspiration from his face. I felt very
queer. The girl was as pale as Tom; and, assembled as we were in the
very scene of these adventures, we were all, I dare say, equally
grateful for the clear daylight and the resuming bustle out of doors.

"For about three seconds only I saw it plainly; then it grew indistinct;
but, for a long time, there was something like a column of dark vapour
where it had been standing, between me and the wall; and I felt sure
that he was still there. After a good while, this appearance went too. I
took my clothes downstairs to the hall, and dressed there, with the door
half open; then went out into the street, and walked about the town till
morning, when I came back, in a miserable state of nervousness and