In that dark lower world, without sun, moon or stars; without air, water or vegetation; that world of horror and despair of which he had heard in childhood, but in which he had never believed, and where he must wait with thieves and murderers and miscreants like himself until the general judgment day; and after that—— What? The eternal life of torture in the lake of fire and brimstone in which he had never believed, either in its literal or in its metaphorical meaning. And now he was too utterly debilitated in mind and body to know or to feel anything very clearly or deeply. He relapsed into unconsciousness. When he came to himself the next time he was able to think with a little more clearness, and to recollect with more correctness. He remembered now that it was at Haymore Hall the “row” had occurred, in which he still believed he had been knocked down and had succumbed to his injuries, and had now waked up in the world of darkness, horror and despair, to wait for his final doom. His final doom? He moaned in his helplessness, not altogether from fear of future hell, but from a feeling of present thirst, intolerable even as the rich man suffered when he cried to Father Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool his parched tongue. When he had moaned a second time he felt the approach of some huge, dark form. It stood by him, it bent over him, put out a strong arm under his shoulders and lifted him, and placed a glassful of a refreshing beverage to his lips. He drank and breathed more freely. Ah! how delicious it was! The attendant replaced his head on the pillow, smoothed his bedclothes and withdrew to take away the glass. In a moment he came back, bent over the still half-comatose man and inquired softly: “How do you feel, Capt. Montgomery?” “I—I—I—feel——” muttered Gentleman Geff, and then swooned into the slumber of weakness. Some one silently opened the door and came in. It was the rector. “How is your patient, Longman?” he inquired. “Sir, he has just swallowed more liquid than he has since he has been ill; and he has spoken for the first time,” replied the nurse. “Coherently?” “Yes, sir.” “What did he say?” “Well, not much. I asked him how he felt, as an experiment, you see, sir, and to find out whether he could understand anything; and he did understand, for he began to tell me, and he dropped off to sleep. You see he is sleeping naturally, sir.” “Yes, I see. Well, Longman, it is one o’clock. Go to bed. I will relieve your watch,” said the rector, sinking into the large easy-chair beside the patient. Longman made some resistance to this proposal, but Mr. Campbell was firm, and sent off the wearied nurse to take his much needed rest. The ill man rested well for some hours, and then moaned in his sleep. The watcher gave him a cooling and strengthening beverage, just as Longman had done, and the patient sank again into sleep, muttering: