Sir Wynston›s man having received the letters, and his master›s permission to retire to rest, got into his bed, and was soon beginning to dose. We have already mentioned that his and Sir Wynston›s apartments were separated by a small dressing room, so that any ordinary noise or conversation could be heard but imperfectly from one to the other. The servant, however, was startled by a sound of something falling on the floor of his master›s apartment, and broken to pieces by the violence of the shock. He sate up in his bed, listened, and heard some sentences spoken vehemently, and gabbled very fast. He thought he distinguished the words «wretch» and «God»; and there was something so strange in the tone in which they were spoken, that the man got up and stole noiselessly through the dressing r
