Of all these things he thought; and his brain appeared to whirl. He cast his eyes around: objects of terror seemed to encounter them in all directions--for his fevered, excited imagination conjured up the most horrifying phantoms. Suddenly taking his head as it were in his hands, and pressing it violently, he exclaimed aloud. “Perdition take this cowardly nervousness! What have I to fear to-night--more than any other? I need rest--repose--slumber;--and when I awake in the morning, I shall laugh at myself for the absurd terrors to which I have yielded now!” Taking the light in his hand, he was about to quit the room and seek his chamber up stairs, when a sound, as of the back door slowly opening, fell upon his ears;--and so great was the alarm with which this circumstance filled him,--striking him as it were with a sudden paralysis,--that he let the candle fall upon the floor--and the light was immediately extinguished. Then there was the rush of a man up the stairs leading from the back door to the parlour;--and in another moment Percival was assailed in the dark, and in a desperate manner. A heavy blow, as with a bludgeon, felled him to the ground,--not quite stunning him, but so far depriving him of his physical energies that he could not even cry out. But he grasped the murderer by the throat; and a short struggle ensued. The assassin, however, was armed with the determination, if not with the strength, of a demon;--and, dashing the miser back on the floor again with all his force, he seized the bludgeon and wielded it with such fearful effect, that in a few instants the victim lay motionless and silent beneath him! This fearful crime was accomplished in the dark; and yet the murderer appeared not to be afraid--nor to lose his presence of mind. It would also seem that he was acquainted with the nook where the miser’s gold was concealed: yes--even circumstances more minute still were known to him. For, stooping down, and passing his hand over the corpse, he felt in the very pocket where Percival had placed the key of the cupboard enclosing the iron safe;--and then, groping his way to that cupboard, he opened it,--opened likewise the iron safe,--and drew forth the tin case containing the miser’s gold and bank-notes. Breaking open the lid of the box, the miscreant secured all the coin, notes, and papers about his person, and then stole away from the dwelling by means of the back-gate, which he closed behind him. * * * * * At half-past seven o’clock in the morning, Mrs. Dyer knocked at the door of the miser’s house, and was somewhat surprised when, five minutes having elapsed, her summons remained unanswered. “Perhaps he has over-slept himself,” she muttered to herself: “I will come back again presently;”--and the woman returned to her own abode.