SIX WEEKS IX A TOWER. 85 



it, and rose, in extreme astonishment, to strike a 

 light. Of course there Avas no man or woman either ; 

 but he still persisted, and continued "There, don't 

 you see them standing by the pillar?" For three 

 nights, and always at the same hour, these spectres 

 made their- appearance ; and his delirium became 

 worse, his speech wandering, and his danger extreme. 

 When not closely watched, he would rise during the 

 night, and, opening the door of our room, call into 

 the darkness on far-distant friends. This, I imagine, 

 may have been caused by a confused reminiscence of 

 ' AVuthering Heights,' a book which I had with me, 

 and which he had read during the earlier part of our 

 sojourn. Probably those awful pages, which describe 

 Ilcathcliff calling passionately into the darkness on 

 his dead Cathie may have affected the dreams of his 

 delirium. That tower was a striking enough place, 

 with its solitude, its loopholes, its cold, and its howl- 

 ing winds ; but when to these little agreeables were 

 addrd spectres, a delirious patient, and an apparently 

 dying friend, I began to feel the want of society at 

 night, and to say, with Abou Hassan the wag, "Xo 

 doubt all these are of the Genii ; may Allah, then, 

 deliver me from them happily ! " 



Of course, it was impossible to remove at that 

 crisis ; and even had I determined to run the risk of 

 conveying him to Hong-Kong, it could scarcely have 

 been managed then. Just before the China Xew Year 

 boats gave up running and few persons care to 



