Thinking that any diversion of this nature could not but be beneficial to him, we sent to Dorchester for our solicitor, Mr.Jeffreys, who together with his clerk spent three nights at Worth, and drew up a testament for my brother.
So time went on, and the year was drawing to a close.
It was Christmas Eve, and I had gone to bed shortly after twelve o'clock, having an hour earlier bid good night to John and Mr.Gaskell.
The long habit of watching with, or being in charge of an invalid at night, had made my ears extraordinarily quick to apprehend even the slightest murmur.

It must have been, I think, near three in the morning when I found myself awake and conscious of some unusual sound.

It was low and far off, but I knew instantly what it was, and felt a choking sensation of fear and horror, as if an icy hand had gripped my throat, on recognising the air of the _Gagliarda_.

It was being played on the violin, and a long way off, but I knew that tune too well to permit of my having any doubt on the subject.
Any trouble or fear becomes, as you will some day learn, my dear nephew, immensely intensified and exaggerated at night.

It is so, I suppose, because our nerves are in an excited condition, and our brain not sufficiently awake to give a due account of our foolish imaginations.