I felt assured that it was confined to its own dreary
chamber, for I had, with a sort of instinctive caution, turned the key
when I closed the door. I soon calmed down, therefore, into a state of
tranquillity; from that into a drowsiness, and finally into a deep
sleep; out of which I did not awake, until the housemaid, with her
besom and her matin song, came to put the room in order. She stared at
finding me stretched upon the sofa; but I presume circumstances of the
kind were not uncommon after hunting dinners, in her master's bachelor
establishment; for she went on with her song and her work, and took no
farther heed of me.
I had an unconquerable repugnance to return to my chamber; so I found
my way to the butler's quarters, made my toilet in the best way
circumstances would permit, and was among the first to appear at the
breakfast table. Our breakfast was a substantial fox-hunter's repast,
and the company were generally assembled at it. When ample justice had
been done to the tea, coffee, cold meats, and humming ale, for all
these were furnished in abundance, according to the tastes of the
different guests, the conversation began to break out, with all the
liveliness and freshness of morning mirth.
"But who is the hero of the haunted chamber? - Who has seen the ghost
last night?" said the inquisitive gentleman, rolling his lobster eyes
about the table.
The question set every tongue in motion; a vast deal of bantering;
criticising of countenances; of mutual accusation and retort took
place. Some had drunk deep, and some were unshaven, so that there were
suspicious faces enough in the assembly. I alone could not enter with
ease and vivacity into the joke. I felt tongue-tied - embarrassed. A
recollection of what I had seen and felt the preceding night still
haunted my mind.
It seemed as if the mysterious picture still held a thrall upon me. I
thought also that our host's eye was turned on me with an air of
curiosity. In short, I was conscious that I was the hero of the night,
and felt as if every one might read it in my looks.
The jokes, however, passed over, and no suspicion seemed to attach to
me. I was just congratulating myself on my escape, when a servant came
in, saying, that the gentleman who had slept on the sofa in the
drawing-room, had left his watch under one of the pillows. My repeater
was in his hand.
"What!" said the inquisitive gentleman, "did any gentleman sleep on the
sofa?"
"Soho! soho! a hare - a hare!" cried the old gentleman with the flexible
nose.
I could not avoid acknowledging the watch, and was rising in great
confusion, when a boisterous old squire who sat beside me, exclaimed,
slapping me on the shoulder, "'Sblood, lad!
