had been employed by her to propitiate the Doctor by a suitable
fee, and a story intimating that a soldier's wife desired to know
the fate of her husband--a subject upon which, in all
probability, the sage was very frequently consulted,

To the last moment, when the palace clock struck eight, Lady
Bothwell earnestly watched her sister, in hopes that she might
retreat from her rash undertaking; but as mildness, and even
timidity, is capable at times of vehement and fixed purposes, she
found Lady Forester resolutely unmoved and determined when the
moment of departure arrived. Ill satisfied with the expedition,
but determined not to leave her sister at such a crisis, Lady
Bothwell accompanied Lady Forester through more than one obscure
street and lane, the servant walking before, and acting as their
guide. At length he suddenly turned into a narrow court, and
knocked at an arched door which seemed to belong to a building of
some antiquity. It opened, though no one appeared to act as
porter; and the servant, stepping aside from the entrance,
motioned the ladies to enter. They had no sooner done so than it
shut, and excluded their guide. The two ladies found themselves
in a small vestibule, illuminated by a dim lamp, and having, when
the door was closed, no communication with the external light or
air. The door of an inner apartment, partly open, was at the
farther side of the vestibule.

"We must not hesitate now, Jemima," said Lady Bothwell, and
walked forwards into the inner room, where, surrounded by books,
maps, philosophical utensils, and other implements of peculiar
shape and appearance, they found the man of art.