CHAPTER XII



The Dingle at Night--The Two Sides of the Question--Roman Females--
Filling the Kettle--The Dream--The Tall Figure.


I descended to the bottom of the dingle. It was nearly involved in
obscurity. To dissipate the feeling of melancholy which came over
my mind, I resolved to kindle a fire; and having heaped dry sticks
upon my hearth, and added a billet or two, I struck a light, and
soon produced a blaze. Sitting down, I fixed my eyes upon the
blaze, and soon fell into a deep meditation. I thought of the
events of the day, the scene at church, and what I had heard at
church, the danger of losing one's soul, the doubts of Jasper
Petulengro as to whether one had a soul. I thought over the
various arguments which I had either heard, or which had come
spontaneously to my mind, for or against the probability of a state
of future existence. They appeared to me to be tolerably evenly
balanced. I then thought that it was at all events taking the
safest part to conclude that there was a soul. It would be a
terrible thing, after having passed one's life in the disbelief of
the existence of a soul, to wake up after death a soul, and to find
one's self a lost soul. Yes, methought I would come to the
conclusion that one has a soul. Choosing the safe side, however,
appeared to me to be playing a rather dastardly part. I had never