Page:The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.djvu/375

301 THE PICKWICK CLUB. 301

moonlight. The cold hoar frost glistened on the tomb Rtones, and sparkled like rows of gems among- the stone carving-s of the old church. The snow lay hard and crisp upon the ground, and spread over the thickly-strewn mounds of earth, so white and smooth a cover, that it seemed as if corpses lay there, hidden only by their winding- sheets. Not the faintest rustle broke the profound tranquillity of the solemn scene. Sound itself appeared to be frozen up, all was so cold and still.

" ' It was the echoes, * said Gabriel Grub, raising the bottle to his lips again.

" ' It was 710^," ' said a deep voice.

and terror ; for his eyes rested on a form which made his ood run cold.
 * ' Gabriel started up, and stood rooted to the spot with astonishment

" Seated on an upright tombstone, close to him, was a strange un- earthly figure, whom Gabriel felt at once, was no being of this world. His long fantastic legs which might have reached the ground, were cocked up, and crossed after a quaint, fantastic fashion ; his sinewy arms were bare, and his hands rested on his knees. On his short round body he wore a close covering, ornamented with small slashes ; and a short cloak dangled at his back ; the collar was cut into curious peaks, which served the goblin in lieu of ruff or neckerchief; and his shoes curled up at the toes into long points. On his head he wore a broad-brimmed J igar loaf hat, garnished with a single feather. The hat was covered with the white frost, and the goblin looked as if he had sat on the same tombstone very comfortably, for two or three hundred years. He was sitting perfectly still ; his tongue was put out, as if in derision ; and he was grinning at Gabriel Grub with such a grin as only a goblin could call up.

" ' It was not the echoes," ' said the goblin.


 * ' Gabriel Grub was paralysed, and could make no reply.

" * What do you do here on Christmas eve ? ' said the goblin sternly.


 * * I came to dig a grave Sir, ' stammered Gabriel Grub.

" ' What man wanders among graves and churchyards on such a night as this? ' said the goblin.

" * Gabriel Grub I Gabriel Grub! ' screamed a wild chorus of voices that seemed to fill the church-yard. Gabriel looked fearfully round — nothing was to be seen.

" ' What have you got in that bottle ? ' said the goblin.

" ' Hollands, Sir,' replied the sexton, trembling more than ever; for he had bought it of the smugglers, and he thought that perhaps his questioner might be in the excise department of the goblins.

" ' Who drinks Hollands alone, and in a church-yard, on such a night as this?' said the goblin.

" ' Gabriel Grub ! Gabriel Grub !' exclaimed the wild voices again.

raising his voice, exclaimed —
 * ' The goblin leered maliciously at the terrified sexton, and then

" ' And who, then, is our fair and lawful prize ?'


 * To this inquiry the invisible chorus replied, in a strain that soundea