Page:Whyte-Melville--Bones and I.djvu/61

 in the dark? Not you! Never mind, don't fret, you will find out some day sure enough, and be as wise as 'Tullus, Ancus, good Eneas,' and the rest of us! In the meantime stick to your text. The morbid spirit possesses you, and well I know it will only come out of the man with much talking. If it does you any good, never mind me—fire away ! Tell us something more about the Gourd, and the worm that smote it. That is what you are driving at, I feel sure."

Morbid! I repeated, somewhat indignantly "And why morbid, I should like to know? A man takes his stand, as you and I do, outside of, and apart from, the circling, shifting mass of his fellow-creatures, and makes his own observations, uninfluenced by their clamour, their customs, their ridiculous prejudices and opinions, confiding those observations unreservedly to one who should, ex-officio indeed, be