Page:Sylvester Sound the Somnambulist (1844).djvu/375

"Have you? Well, what did he say?"

"Why he absolutely had the audacity to tell me that you were at the public-house with him last night, drinking brandy-and-water till past twelve o'clock."

"What!"

"It's a positive fact, that he declared that you were there, treating them all, as he said, 'like a trump!'"

"The animal! Why I went to bed soon after ten."

"He moreover told me that his reason for sending that song to you this morning was, that you heard him sing it last night, and admired it so much, that you begged of him to send you a copy of it."

"Oh, the man must be mad. I never heard him sing! But, of course, you don't imagine for a moment that I was there?"

"I have ascertained beyond all doubt that you were not: for, in order to satisfy my mind upon that point, I called upon Legge—"

"And, of course, he told you—"

"Oh! yes, at once: and, like a sensible man, treated the whole matter with contempt. Why, he absolutely told me that he should not have felt astonished if this man had spread a report that I was there drinking brandy-and-water! Why, you know this is a very awful state for a man's mind to be in!"

"The man must be insane."

"He is wicked, sir—desperately wicked! Such conduct can be ascribed to wickedness alone. But I'll not give him up: I must not give him up. I must not suffer his soul to be lost."

"Why, let me see," said Sylvester, thoughtfully: "you were here last night till nearly ten o'clock."

"It wanted twelve minutes to ten when I left."

"I was in bed and asleep in less than half an hour after that."

"Oh! the idea of your being there is perfectly ridiculous! But that man must be reclaimed. You see it's dreadful, when you come to reflect upon it—positively dreadful! I understand his word is not at any time to be taken; that it's not worth a rush; that he never speaks the truth, and that no one believes him. Why, you know this continual commission of sin must, of necessity, have its effect. However, if he is to be reclaimed, I'll reclaim him."

Sylvester—notwithstanding the reverend gentleman had thus expressed his conviction that he was not the previous night at the Crumpet and Crown—reflected deeply upon all that he had heard in connexion with the idea of his being a somnambulist, and the immediate result of that reflection was the confirmation of his suspicion.

"And yet, thought he, subsequently, "Legge must know whether I was there or not; and as he says that I was not there, I have a right to infer that the statement of this Drant is false. Besides, how is it possible that I could have been there? The string was round my ancle when I awoke this morning, precisely as I tied it round last night, and, of course, the idea of my having been able to leave the room with that on, or even to get out of bed, is absurd. It is certainly strange that this report should have been circulated just at this time. But then the fact