Shoeblossom heard his visitor utter an exclamation of annoyance, and
fumble in his pocket for matches. He recognised the voice. It was Mr
Seymour's. The fact was that Mr Seymour had had the same experience as
General Stanley in _The Pirates of Penzance_:

The man who finds his conscience ache,
No peace at all enjoys;
And, as I lay in bed awake,
I thought I heard a noise.

Whether Mr Seymour's conscience ached or not, cannot, of course, be
discovered. But he had certainly thought he heard a noise, and he had
come to investigate.

The search for matches had so far proved fruitless. Shoeblossom stood
and quaked behind the door. The reek of hot tin from the dark lantern
grew worse momentarily. Mr Seymour sniffed several times, until
Shoeblossom thought that he must be discovered. Then, to his immense
relief, the master walked away. Shoeblossom's chance had come. Mr
Seymour had probably gone to get some matches to relight his candle. It
was far from likely that the episode was closed. He would be back again
presently. If Shoeblossom was going to escape, he must do it now, so he
waited till the footsteps had passed away, and then darted out in the
direction of his dormitory.

As he was passing Milton's study, a white figure glided out of it. All
that he had ever read or heard of spectres rushed into Shoeblossom's
petrified brain. He wished he was safely in bed. He wished he had never
come out of it. He wished he had led a better and nobler life. He
wished he had never been born.