The other laughed a short, hollow, restless sort of laugh, which had not one particle of real mirth in it.
"Go on—go on," he said. "What did they do?"
"Immense excesses have been committed; but what made me, first of all, stay beyond my time, was that I overheard a man declare his intentions this night, from twelve till the morning, and for some nights to come, to hold watch and ward for the vampyre."
"Indeed!"
"Yes. He did but stay, at the earnest solicitation of his comrades, to take yet another glass, ere he came upon his expedition."
"He must be met. The idiot! what business is it of his?"
"There are always people who will make everything their business, whether it be so or not."
"There are. Let us retire further into the recesses of the ruin, and there consider as well what is to be done regarding more important affairs, as with this rash intruder here."
They both walked for some twenty paces, or so, right into the ruin, and then he who had been there first, said, suddenly, to his companion,—
"I am annoyed, although the feeling reaches no further than annoyance, for I have a natural love of mischief, to think that my reputation has spread so widely, and made so much noise."