At two o'clock in the morning. As regularly as the
birthday comes round."
There she stops. Has she discovered no more than that? No more thus far. I
begin to feel really interested by this time. I ask eagerly what it means?
Mrs. Fairbank points mysteriously to the chaise--with Francis Raven
(hitherto our hostler, now our coachman) waiting for us to get in. The
chaise has a seat for two in front, and a seat for one behind. My wife
casts a warning look at me, and places herself on the seat in front.
The necessary consequence of this arrangement is that Mrs. Fairbank sits
by the side of the driver during a journey of two hours and more. Need I
state the result? It would be an insult to your intelligence to state the
result. Let me offer you my place in the chaise. And let Francis Raven
tell his terrible story in his own words.
THE SECOND NARRATIVE
THE HOSTLER'S STORY.--TOLD BY HIMSELF
IV
It is now ten years ago since I got my first warning of the great trouble
of my life in the Vision of a Dream.
I shall be better able to tell you about it if you will please suppose
yourselves to be drinking tea along with us in our little cottage in
Cambridgeshire, ten years since.
The time was the close of day, and there were three of us at the table,
namely, my mother, myself, and my mother's sister, Mrs.
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