"D--n it, Vice, don't _murder_ him!" cried one of the bystanders--all of whom seemed disposed to interfere; but at this point, the man who had been struck, and had been lying for some minutes motionless, suddenly began to dash about his arms and legs convulsively--for he had fallen into a fit of epilepsy. The attention of all present was now absorbed by this one dreadful figure; and the man whom Vice had quitted, rose flushed and breathless from the floor, and looked with a face of horror upon the victim of his ungovernable passions. "I must get a doctor," quoth Vice, "presently," approaching the door; and in passing Mr. Aubrey, who sat down looking exceedingly agitated--"Oh--here you are!" said he: "come along with me." "I hope this poor man will be properly attended to"----interposed Mr. Aubrey, very anxiously. "That's _my_ look-out, not yours," replied Vice, rudely--"come you along with me!" and, unlocking the door, he motioned out Mr. Aubrey, and after sending off a man for a surgeon, led Mr. Aubrey into a kind of office--where he was instantly clasped by the hands by Mr. Runnington, who had been there some five minutes. He looked like an angel in the eyes of Mr. Aubrey, who returned his cordial pressure with convulsive energy, but in silence, for his shocked and overcharged feelings forbade him utterance. Mr. Runnington looked both annoyed and distressed--for Vice had refused to discharge his prisoner on Mr. Runnington's undertaking, telling him the sum was a trifle too large for running any risk; and, in short, he peremptorily refused to do it without a written authority from the under-sheriff; and added, he knew it was useless for Mr. Runnington to make the application--for they had only a few months before been "let in" for eight hundred pounds in that same way--so that Mr. Runnington had better, said Vice, be looking after a good bail-bond. In a word, Vice was inexorable; and a hint of the possibility of Mr. Aubrey's flight to the Continent, dropped by Mr. Spitfire to the under-sheriff, had caused that functionary to advise Vice "to look sharp after his bird." "At all events let Mr. Aubrey be shown into your parlor, Vice," said Mr. Runnington, "and I will settle with you when I return. I am just going to the office, to see what I can do with Mr. Ridley." "It's no manner of use; and besides, it's ten to one you don't catch him--he's gone to Clapham by this time," said Vice, looking up at the dusky Dutch clock over the fireplace. But Mr. Runnington was not to be so easily discouraged, and started off on his friendly errand; on which Vice led Mr. Aubrey up-stairs into his "parlor," telling him, as they went along, that there were only two other "gentlemen" there, and so "them three could make it comfortable to one another, if they liked." Vice added, that as he had only one double-bedded room at liberty, they must agree among themselves which should sleep on the sofa--or perhaps take it by turns.