which she sagaciously perceived that he was the clipped housebreaker, who
had married her with the intention of putting her to death. She
immediately heated the poker and terminated his career, for which she was
taken to King George upon his throne, and received the compliments of
royalty on her great discretion and valour. This same narrator, who had
a Ghoulish pleasure, I have long been persuaded, in terrifying me to the
utmost confines of my reason, had another authentic anecdote within her
own experience, founded, I now believe, upon _Raymond and Agnes, or the
Bleeding Nun_. She said it happened to her brother-in-law, who was
immensely rich,--which my father was not; and immensely tall,--which my
father was not. It was always a point with this Ghoul to present my
clearest relations and friends to my youthful mind under circumstances of
disparaging contrast. The brother-in-law was riding once through a
forest on a magnificent horse (we had no magnificent horse at our house),
attended by a favourite and valuable Newfoundland dog (we had no dog),
when he found himself benighted, and came to an Inn. A dark woman opened
the door, and he asked her if he could have a bed there. She answered
yes, and put his horse in the stable, and took him into a room where
there were two dark men. While he was at supper, a parrot in the room
began to talk, saying, "Blood, blood! Wipe up the blood!" Upon which
one of the dark men wrung the parrot's neck, and said he was fond of
roasted parrots, and he meant to have this one for breakfast in the
morning. After eating and drinking heartily, the immensely rich, tall
brother-in-law went up to bed; but he was rather vexed, because they had
shut his dog in the stable, saying that they never allowed dogs in the
house. He sat very quiet for more than an hour, thinking and thinking,
when, just as his candle was burning out, he heard a scratch at the door.
He opened the door, and there was the Newfoundland dog! The dog came
softly in, smelt about him, went straight to some straw in the corner
which the dark men had said covered apples, tore the straw away, and