At length the second comer spoke, saying,—
"I have made some exertion to get here to my time, and yet I am beyond it, as you are no doubt aware."
"Yes, yes."
"Well, such would not have been the case; but yet, I stayed to bring you some news of importance."
"Indeed!"
"It is so. This place, which we have, now for some time had as a quiet and perfectly eligible one of meeting, is about to be invaded by one of those restless, troublesome spirits, who are never happy but when they are contriving something to the annoyance of others who do not interfere with them."
"Explain yourself more fully."
"I will. At a tavern in the town, there has happened some strange scenes of violence, in consequence of the general excitement into which the common people have been thrown upon the dreadful subject of vampyres."
"Well."
"The consequence is, that numerous arrests have taken place, and the places of confinement for offenders against the laws are now full of those whose heated and angry imaginations have induced them to take violent steps to discover the reality or the falsehood of rumours which so much affected them, their wives, and their families, that they feared to lie down to their night's repose."