344 THE MAN OF TWO LIVES. 



est interest, placed herself in order, to follow as chief and indeed 

 sole mourner of the wig-block about to be committed to the earth. 



" I shall lock the street-door," she remarked casually to the under- 

 taker and his gaunt foreman, as, with the assistance of two mutes, they 

 bore the coffin from the door. " I am going to tea with Mrs. Rusk, 

 who has kindly invited me, and shall not return till night.'' 



In a few short minutes (such is the fate of rnan) Singe was decently 

 interred in the handsome and particularly dry vault which he himself 

 had erected for the improvident and imprudent Diogenes Thorough- 

 good. 



Perhaps it is not altogether wonderful (for, let us frame some ex- 

 cuse for the self-outwitted man) that under even the exciting circum- 

 stances we have set forth Singe should .have fallen a victim to sleep. 

 It must be remembered that he had enjoyed no repose for sixty 

 hours, and the influence of wine, acting upon a stomach whose diges- 

 tive organs had recently been much out of practice, may have 

 thrown him into a lethargy of which he found it impossible to divest 

 himself. However this be, it is certain that about four hours after his 

 funeral Singe broke through the bonds of slumber, and, awaking, 

 marvelled greatly where he might be. Could he, in conformity with 

 his dream (which the jolting of the coffin had doubtless superinduced), 

 be at this moment snugly ensconced in the London coach ? if so, it 

 were time that he should look about him. Raising himself, therefore, 

 with a view to ascertain this fact, his skull came in violent contact 

 with the lid of that subterranean chest in which he had been, as it 

 seemed, booked for eternity, and his ear detected certain echoes 

 caused by such concussion, dying away with a mournful and posthu- 

 mous sound. Suddenly the fearful truth burst upon his senses, and 

 he fell back in utter despair. What ! to be hunted to death by mi- 

 sery and misfortune, and to be buried alive after all ! to be untimelily 

 thrust into a huge box, like a razor-case, a convenience which, it now 

 occurred to him, would have fitted Frizzle exactly, and which was 

 especially fit for Frizzle. Horrible ! But now a sudden hope seized 

 him, or rather he seized upon a sudden hope. His wife must know 

 of this, and she would, must come with mattock and spade, and dig 

 him out of the bowels of the earth. No sooner had this hope taken 

 possession of him than it appeared about to be realized. A sound of 

 footsteps he could not be mistaken broke upon his ear, and pre- 

 sently a heavy form flung itself upon the sable receptacle in which he 

 lay embedded. 



" I say, Jack," cried a gruff voice, " how strange that Slash would 

 insist upon having the little barber, isn't it ?" 



" So it is," answered a voice of more discordant gruffness ; " but, as 

 we are well paid for it, let us have him out directly. Wrench open 

 the coffin stay, show a light oh, here's the sack.'' 



In obedience to this peremptory command, the former of the two, 

 with a skill indicating no recent acquirement of that art, broke open 

 the coffin, out of which the ghostly barber sprung with electric rapi- 

 dity, and, as the terrified agents with loud outcries tumbled head over 

 heels, leapt with incredible speed up the ladder at the mouth of the 

 vault, and once more found himself a denizen of this upper world. 



