the time of getting up, when I should be master of the miraculous
power which had been promised me. I rang the bell; my servant was
still out; it was unusual for him to be absent at so late an hour. I
waited until the clock struck eleven, but he came not; and resolving
to reprimand him in the morning, I retired to rest. Contrary to my
expectation, and, as it seemed to me, to the ordinary course of
nature, considering the excitement under which I was labouring, I had
scarcely laid my head on my pillow before I dropped into a profound
slumber, from which I was only aroused by my servant's entrance to my
room. The instant I awoke, I sat up in bed, and began to reflect on
what had passed, and for a moment to doubt whether it had not been all
a dream. However, it was daylight; the period had arrived when the
proof of my newly acquired power might be made.--"Barton," said I to
my man, "why were you not at home last night?"--"I had to wait, sir,
nearly three hours," he replied, "for an answer to the letter which
you sent to Major Sheringham."--"That is not true," said I; and, to my
infinite surprise, I appeared to _recollect_ a series of occurrences,
of which I never had previously heard, and could have known nothing:
"you went to see your sweetheart, Betsy Collyer, at Camberwell, and
took her to a tea-garden, and gave her cakes and cider, and saw
her home again: you mean to do exactly the same thing on Sunday,
and to-morrow you mean to ask me for your quarter's wages, although
not due till Monday, in order to buy her a new shawl."--The man
stood aghast: it was all true. I was quite as much surprised as the
man.--"Sir," said Barton, who had served me for seven years without
having once been found fault with, "I see you think me unworthy your
confidence; you could not have known this, if you had not watched, and
followed, and overheard me and my sweetheart; my character will get
me through the world without being looked after. I can stay with you
no longer; you will please, sir, to provide yourself with another