When Sarah Rumble returned, Mr. Dingwell seemed, she thought, a great deal heavier. He made no remark, as he used to do, when she entered the room. She came and stood by the bed-side, but he lay with his eyes closed, not asleep; she could see by the occasional motion of his lips, and the fidgety change of his posture, and his weary groanings. She waited for a time in silence. "Better, sir?" she half-whispered, after a minute or two. "No," he said, wearily. Another silence followed, and then she asked, "Would you like a drink, Mr. Dingwell, sir?" "Yes--water." So he drank a very little, and lay down again. Miss Sarah Rumble stayed in the room, and nearly ten minutes passed without a word. "What did he say?" demanded Mr. Dingwell so abruptly that Sarah Rumble fancied he had been dreaming. "Who, sir, please?" "The Jew--landlord," he answered. "Mr. Levi's a-coming up, sir, please--he expected in twenty minutes," replied she. Mr. Dingwell groaned; and two or three minutes more elapsed, and silence seemed to have re-established itself in the darkened chamber, when Mr. Dingwell raised himself up with a sudden effort, and he said-- "Sarah Rumble, fetch me my desk." Which she did, from his sitting-room. "Put your hand under the bolster, and you'll find two keys on a ring, and a pocket-book. _Yes._ Now, Sarah Rumble, unlock that desk. Very good. Put out the papers on the coverlet before me; first bolt the door. Thank you, ma'am. There are a parcel of letters among those, tied across with a red silk cord--just so. Put them in my hand--thank you--and place all the rest back again neatly--_neatly_, if you please. Now lock the desk; replace it, and come here; but first give me pen and ink, and bolt the door--try it again." And as she did so he scrawled an address upon the blank paper in which these letters were wrapt. The brown visage of his grave landlady was graver than ever, as she returned to listen for further orders. "Mrs. Sarah Rumble, I take you for an honest person; and as I may die this time, I make a particular request of _you_--take this little packet, and slip it between the feather-bed and the mattress, as near the centre as your arm will reach--thank you--remember it's there. If I die, ma'am, you'll find a ten-pound note wrapped about it, which I give to you; you need not thank--that will do. The letters addressed as they are you will deliver, without showing them, or _saying one word to anyone_ but to the gentleman himself, into whose hands you must deliver them. You understand?" "Yes, sir, please; I'm listening." "Well, _attend_. There are two Jew gentlemen--your landlord, Mr. Levi, and the _old_ Jew, who have been with me once or twice--you know _them_; that makes _two_; and there is Mr. Larkin, the tall gentleman who has been twice here with them, with the lavender waistcoat and trousers, the eye-glass with the black ribbon, the black frock coat--heigho! oh, dear, my head!--the red grizzled whiskers, and bald head."