“Why, that ‘ere Egyptian hev bin doggin’ me all day.  He’s got a hinklin’ as how we’re tryin’ to match ’em, and reckons as how I’m yer friend.  Besides, to-day when I see you ride hoff with the young lady, I thinks to myself, ‘There’s no knowin’ what time he’ll be back.’  I know what ‘tis, yer honour; hi’ve bin in the arms o’ Wenus myself, and knows as ‘ow a hour slips away like a minnit.  So as there wur no tellin’ if you would get to the summer-house to-night at five o’clock, I thought I’d just toddle up myself.  But ’twas no go.  I sees they two willains a-talkin’ together, and when that ’ere Woltaire went off by himself, the other took it ‘pon him to keep wi’ me.  I tried to git ’im off, but ’twas no use; he stuck to me like a limpet to a rock.”

“Perhaps it was all fancy, Simon.”

“No fancy in me, but a lot o’ judgment.  Fact, sur, I’ve begun to think for the fust time as ’ow some things in the Bible ain’t true.  In the Psalms of Solomon it reads, ’Resist the devil and he’ll go away howlin’.’  Well, I’ve resisted that ’ere devil, and he wouldn’t go away till he’d knowed as how he’d played his little game;” and Simon looked very solemn indeed.

“Is that all, Simon?”

“All, yer honour.  ’Tisn’t much, you think; but to me it looks mighty suspicious, as I said to my sweetheart when I see her a-huggin’ and kissin’ the coachman.”

I went away laughing, but my heart was still heavy.  Try as I would, I could not dispel the fancy that soon something terrible would happen.

During dinner Kaffar made himself very disagreeable.  This was somewhat unusual, as he was generally very bland and polite, but to-night he was so cantankerous that I fancied he must have been drinking.  To me he was especially insulting, and went so far as to hint that I, unlike other Englishmen, was a coward; that I hadn’t courage to resist a man manfully, but would act towards an enemy in a cunning, serpent-like way.  This was not the first occasion on which he had sought to pick a quarrel with me, and I felt like resenting it.  I desisted, however, as there were ladies present, and went on quietly talking to my neighbour as if he hadn’t spoken.  This roused his ire more, while I saw that Voltaire watched me with his light glittering eye, as if expecting a scene.

After dinner, this being New Year’s Day, we passed a more than usually merry time.  Stories were told, old ballads were sung, while Roger de Coverley was danced in downright earnest by most of those who were present.  By midnight, however, the old hall was silent; each of us had repaired to his room, and most, I expect, were quietly asleep, when a terrible scream was heard, after which there were shouts for help and hysterical cries.  The sounds seemed to come from the direction of the servants’ hall, and, quickly putting on some clothes, I hurried thither.  I soon found that the noise had roused the whole household, and so, when I arrived, I found a number of the guests had gathered together.  On looking into the room, I saw that the housekeeper was lying in a swoon, one of the servants was in hysterics, while Simon Slowden, who was in the room, and the page boy looked as white as sheets, and were trembling evidently with fear.