He would have me promise not
again, for any vision or apparition whatever, to leave the house without
his company. But he could not persuade me. He asked what I would have
done, if, having overtaken the horseman, I had found neither my uncle nor
Death. I told him I would have given Zoe the use of her heels, when
_that_ horse would soon have seen the last of her. At the same time, he
was inclined to believe with me, that I had seen my uncle. His intended
proximity would account, he said, for his making no arrangement to hear
from me; and if he continued to haunt the moor in such fashion, we could
not fail to encounter him before long. In the meantime he thought it well
to show no sign of suspecting his neighbourhood.
That I had seen my uncle, John was for a moment convinced when, the very
next day, having gone to Wittenage, he saw Thanatos carrying Dr.
Southwell, my uncle's friend. On the other hand, Thanatos looked very
much alive, and in lovely condition! The doctor would not confess to
knowing anything about my uncle, and expressed wonder that he had not yet
returned, but said he did not mind how long he had the loan of such a
horse.
Things went on as before for a while.
John began again to press me to marry him. I think it was mainly,
I am sure it was in part, that I might never again ride the midnight
moor--"like a witch out on her own mischievous hook," as he had once
said.
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