“Uncle Horatio, for God’s sake!”
And as he thrust his night-capped head out of the casement, he asked himself if he had not suddenly wandered into a terrible dream, for the voice went on:
“My father is dead, and David, for aught I know, is dying!”
CHAPTER XVI
THE TIME IS OUT OF JOINT
“Thou Ghost,” I said, “and is thy name To-day?—
Yesterday’s son, with such an abject brow!—
And can To-morrow be more pale than thou?”
While yet I spoke, the silence answered: Yea,
Henceforth our issue is all grieved and grey....
—Rossetti (The House of Life).