The man laughed as before. Then he said:
“That is the point where the devils begin to laugh—ho! ho! John Wesley!”
“I have heard one of them,” said Wesley.
“Oh, you fool, to stay my hand! Know you not that the man lying there is none other than he whom Nelly Polwhele has promised to marry?”
“And is not that a sufficient reason why you should do your best to save him—not take his life away?”
For more than a minute the man was too astonished to speak. At last he said:
“Is it that you are mad, John Wesley? Heard you not what I said?”
“Every word,” replied Wesley.
“You cannot have taken in my words,” the other whispered. “Think, sir, that is the foolish thing that stands between you and her—you love her—I have seen that.”