Scarcely had this happened, before the end of the room opposite the window began to glow with an unearthly light.  John, whose poverty had taught him to be economical, promptly blew out his candle.  A moment later two men entered, bearing a coffin between them.  They rested it upon the floor and, seating themselves upon it, began to cast dice.  “Your soul!” “My soul!” they kept saying in hollow tones, according as they won or lost.  At length one of them—­a tall man in a powdered wig, with a face extraordinarily pale—­flung a hand to his brow, rose and staggered from the room.  The other sat waiting and twirling his black moustache, with an evil smile.  John, who by this time had found a seat in a far corner, thought him the most poisonous-looking villain he had ever seen; but as the minutes passed and nothing happened, he turned his back to the light and pulled out a penny-dreadful.  His literary taste was shocking, and when it came to romance he liked the incidents to follow one another with great rapidity.

He was interrupted by a blood-curdling groan, and the first ruffian broke into the room, dragging by its grey locks the body of an old man.  A young girl followed, weeping and protesting, with dishevelled hair, and behind her entered a priest with a brazier full of glowing charcoal.  The girl cast herself forward on the old man’s body, but the two scoundrels dragged her from it by force.  “The money!” demanded the dark one; and she drew from her bosom a small key and cast it at his feet.  “My promise!” demanded the other, and seized her by the wrist as the priest stepped forward.  “Quick! over this coffin—­man and wife!” She wrenched her hand away and thrust him backward.  The priest retreated to the brazier and drew out a red-hot iron.

John thought it about time to interfere.

“I beg your pardon,” said he, stepping forward; “but I suppose you really are ghosts?”

“We are unhallowed souls,” answered the dark man impressively, “who return to blight the living with the spectacle of our awful crimes.”

“Meaning me?” asked John.

“Ay, sir; and to destroy you to-night if you contract not, upon your soul, to return with your bride and meet us here a twelvemonth hence.”

“H’m!” said John to himself, “they are three to one; and, after all, it’s what I came for.  I suppose,” he added aloud, “some form of document is usual in these cases?”

The dark man drew out pen and parchment.

“Hold forth your hand,” he commanded; and as John held it out, thinking he meant to shake it over the bargain, the fellow drove the pen into his wrist until the blood spurted.  “Now sign!”

“Sign!” said the other villain.

“Sign!” said the lady.

“Oh, very well, miss.  If you’re in the swindle too, my mind is easier,” said John, and signed his name with a flourish.  “But a bargain is a bargain, and what security have I for your part in it?”