“Then you keep his body till the natural period of your own death.”

“Suppose I die?”

“He then keeps your body.”

“Then, if he dies, my body is buried and goes to decay, while I am clogged up in his body, till relieved from it by death?”

“Precisely.”

This announcement struck me with terror. “And shall I never,” said I, weeping, “see my dear body again?”

“You may see it, if ever Wolstang comes in your way.”

“But shall I never possess it—shall I never be myself again?”

“Not unless he pleases.”

“The villain!” exclaimed I, in an agony of grief; “I am then undone—the tool of a heartless unprincipled miscreant. Is my case hopeless?”