He walked swiftly, then stopped, and seemed to listen: he stamped upon the ground, and beat his stomach with his arms as if to guard himself from the inclemency of the season. At the least noise, if a voice was heard in the lower part of the house, if a bat flitted past him, or the wind rattled amidst the leafless boughs, he started, and looked round with anxiety.

“Plague take him!” said he at length with impatience; “What can he be about!”

He spoke in a low voice; but as he was just below my window, I had no difficulty to distinguish his words.