Joseph affirms he's sure he's an altered man: that the Lord has touched his heart, and he is saved "so as by fire." I'm puzzled to detect signs of the favourable change: but it is not my business.
'Yester-evening I sat in my nook reading some old books till late on towards twelve.

It seemed so dismal to go up-stairs, with the wild snow blowing outside, and my thoughts continually reverting to the kirk-yard and the new-made grave! I dared hardly lift my eyes from the page before me, that melancholy scene so instantly usurped its place.

Hindley sat opposite, his head leant on his hand; perhaps meditating on the same subject.

He had ceased drinking at a point below irrationality, and had neither stirred nor spoken during two or three hours.

There was no sound through the house but the moaning wind, which shook the windows every now and then, the faint crackling of the coals, and the click of my snuffers as I removed at intervals the long wick of the candle.