that some one would come from the house. Miss Inglefield was employed in
the kitchen, from a window of which she perceived who it was that made
the signal. Clithero happened, at the same moment, to be employed near
her. She, therefore, desired him to go and see whom the stranger wanted.
He laid aside his work and went. The conference lasted above five
minutes. The length of it excited in her a faint degree of surprise,
inducing her to leave her employment and pay an unintermitted attention
to the scene. There was nothing, however, but its duration that rendered
it remarkable.

Clithero at length entered, and the traveller proceeded. The countenance
of the former betrayed a degree of perturbation which she had never
witnessed before. The muscles of his face were distorted and tremulous.
He immediately sat down to his work, but he seemed, for some time, to
have lost all power over his limbs. He struggled to avoid the sight of
the lady, and his gestures, irresolute or misdirected, betokened the
deepest dismay. After some time, he recovered, in some degree, his
self-possession; but, while the object was viewed through a new medium,
and the change existed only in the imagination of the observer, a change
was certainly discovered.

These circumstances were related to me by Inglefield and corroborated by
his housekeeper. One consequence inevitably flowed from them. The
sleep-walker, he who had led me through so devious a tract, was no other
than Clithero. There was, likewise, a strong relation between this person
and him who stopped at the gate. What was the subject of discourse between
them? In answer to Miss Inglefield's interrogatories, he merely said
that the traveller inquired whither the road led which, at a small
distance forward, struck out of the principal one. Considering the
length of the interview, it was not likely that this was the only topic.