A short pause, and he shouted out a few doggerel rhymes--the last he had ever learned.

He rose in bed, drew up his withered limbs, and rolled about in uncouth positions; he was acting--he was at the theatre.

A minute's silence, and he murmured the burden of some roaring song.

He had reached the old house at last--how hot the room was.

He had been ill, very ill, but he was well now, and happy.