"Be thankful, foolish boy," he said, "that this evil spirit has done thee no real harm; and, for the future, lay aside thy wicked follies. And, above all, Frank, bethink thee that thou has' been guilty of a great sin to be so long pretending good neighbourship with me, and yet to be all the while plotting how to snickle my poor dumb creatur'. No wonder the bar-ghost should visit thee! Say thy Belief, as well as thy prayers, to-night, Frank,--and be a good lad in futur', and then thou may' hope that the Lord will forgive this deceit, for that's a greater sin than mischief!"--and then, fearing to renew the lad's terrors,--since he already began to tremble afresh,--Toby besought Joe and Noah Wallhead to take him home. Toby Lackpenny felt "indescribably queer," as he afterwards said,--when left alone that night. He tried to banish the remembrance of Frank's strange description of the trunkless head,--but he found that to be impossible, as long as he sat by the fire,--for every flicker of the flames startled him with a new fear or fancy. So he betook himself to bed. But alas! poor Toby's frame had been so completely weakened by fasting, and his indulgence of the marvelling propensity of his constitution had rendered his understanding and will so powerless, that he felt like a being that has no longer any self-government. The head,--the queer head that Frank had seen,--with its fiery eyes and mouth,--was all Toby could think about, as he lay tossing to and fro in bed:--"What a marvellous sight it must have been!" said Toby to himself,--"a grinning dark face, with eyes as big as owls' heads,"--the boy said;--"all on a blaze in a moment, and then gone!" And the revolting picture, at length, burst in reality,--he believed,--before his eyes! Nor had he the power to banish the uncouth and distorted phantasm,--although he gathered up all his courage and tried to laugh, once:--it was in vain,--the sound of his own forced laughter caused his skin to creep! Then Toby shut his eyes, and turned himself on his pillow, and bravely resolved he would sleep,--but it still was in vain:--when his eyelids ached with the compressure he had exerted upon them, he opened his eyes once more,--and lo! there was a real, grinning, goggle-eyed head,--all on fire,--coming towards him, from an immense distance! The trunkless head was a mile off, apparently,--but it was coming,--and what was he to do? It came on rapidly,--and the heart of poor Toby beat loudly against his ribs, and the perspiration started from his brow; and, at length, when the glaring phantom of a head was approaching very near, he made a convulsive effort, and dashed his head beneath the bed-clothes! Half suffocated with heat and fear, he threw the clothes sufficiently off to obtain a breath or two, when, to his unspeakable relief, his incomprehensible tantaliser vanished.