exhaustion. I was such a fool, Dick, as to be ashamed to tell you how I
came to be so upset. I thought you would laugh at me; especially as I
had always talked philosophy, and treated _your_ ghosts with contempt. I
concluded you would give me no quarter; and so kept my tale of horror to
myself.

"Now, Dick, you will hardly believe me, when I assure you, that for many
nights after this last experience, I did not go to my room at all. I
used to sit up for a while in the drawing-room after you had gone up to
your bed; and then steal down softly to the hall-door, let myself out,
and sit in the 'Robin Hood' tavern until the last guest went off; and
then I got through the night like a sentry, pacing the streets till
morning.

"For more than a week I never slept in bed. I sometimes had a snooze on
a form in the 'Robin Hood,' and sometimes a nap in a chair during the
day; but regular sleep I had absolutely none.

"I was quite resolved that we should get into another house; but I could
not bring myself to tell you the reason, and I somehow put it off from
day to day, although my life was, during every hour of this
procrastination, rendered as miserable as that of a felon with the
constables on his track. I was growing absolutely ill from this wretched
mode of life.

"One afternoon I determined to enjoy an hour's sleep upon your bed. I
hated mine; so that I had never, except in a stealthy visit every day to
unmake it, lest Martha should discover the secret of my nightly absence,
entered the ill-omened chamber.