I promised to comply, as soon as I could get away; and after the curtain fell, sallied forth on my melancholy errand.
'It was late, for I had been playing in the last piece; and, as it was a benefit night, the performances had been protracted to an unusual length.

It was a dark, cold night, with a chill, damp wind, which blew the rain heavily against the windows and house-fronts.

Pools of water had collected in the narrow and little-frequented streets, and as many of the thinly-scattered oil-lamps had been blown out by the violence of the wind, the walk was not only a comfortless, but most uncertain one.

I had fortunately taken the right course, however, and succeeded, after a little difficulty, in finding the house to which I had been directed--a coal-shed, with one Storey above it, in the back room of which lay the object of my search.
'A wretched-looking woman, the man's wife, met me on the stairs, and, telling me that he had just fallen into a kind of doze, led me softly in, and placed a chair for me at the bedside.

The sick man was lying with his face turned towards the wall; and as he took no heed of my presence, I had leisure to observe the place in which I found myself.
'He was lying on an old bedstead, which turned up during the day.