"Hold the light, I say," cried the doctor sternly; and he went down on one knee by the young squire's side. Moredock looked on wonderingly, for it had not occurred to him to make any inquiry into the young man's state. North had as good as told him that he was slain, and to have questioned the doctor's verdict would have been unnatural. He stood there then in a bent position, holding the lanthorn, as North made a rapid examination of the young baronet, and then rose to his feet in a calm, practical manner, uttering a sigh of relief. "Ready, doctor?" whispered Moredock, to whom all this seemed in the highest degree unnecessary. "Ready, man? No. Put that ghastly thing away. Tom Candlish will go on working wickedness for years after you've been under ground." Moredock straightened himself up, and held the lanthorn above his head, so that its light could fall upon the doctor's face. Then, apparently not satisfied, he lowered it, moved the wire slide, and opened the little door, before turning the light on the doctor's face again. "Well?" said North. "What yer talking about, doctor? You don't mean--mean as--as--" "I mean that the man is only stunned," said North, frowning, as he stood gazing down at his rival; "and we must alter all our plans, Moredock. Neither you nor I will be hung for murdering Tom Candlish," he added, with a half-savage laugh, as resentment against the man began to take the place of the horror which had pervaded his soul. "Why, doctor," whispered Moredock, "you're a bit off your head. Come, man, quick; and let's get it done. No one will know." "Pshaw! I'm as sane as you are when this confused feeling is not here." "But Tom Candlish--the squire?" "I tell you he's alive, man! Do you not understand?" And the party in question endorsed his rival's statement by uttering a low moan. At that moment, by natural magnetism, or influence, or occult action of mind upon mind, or whatever it may have been, two people who had lain wakeful and excited in their separate beds, now feverish, now perspiring profusely from horror and abject fear, turned their weary heads upon their pillows, and dropped off fast asleep. The name of one of the sleepers was Leo Salis, and of the other Joe Chegg. "But he's nearly dead, doctor," whispered Moredock, and he glanced round at the coffin. "Don't you think that--" He made a significant sign towards the coffin, and there was a strange leer upon his ghoulish face. Dr North turned swiftly round, and caught his tempter by the throat! Volume 2, Chapter XVII. THE SEXTON'S NEWS. "You ring, sir?" "Yes, Dally; go up to Miss Leo's room, and say we are waiting breakfast." "Yes, sir," said Dally, and her blackcurrant eyes gave a malicious twinkle. "Oh, how I should like to know," she muttered to herself, as she left the room.