Agitation, and the effects of the usage I had received, had produced a burning thirst.

I asked for a drink of water.
'Heaven Almighty forbid that Epps Ainslie should gie ony sick gentleman cauld well-water, and him in a fever.

Na, na, hinnie, let me alane, I'll do better for ye than the like of that.' 'Give me what you will,' I replied; 'let it but be liquid and cool.' The woman gave me a large horn accordingly, filled with spirits and water, which, without minute inquiry concerning the nature of its contents, I drained at a draught.

Either the spirits taken in such a manner acted more suddenly than usual on my brain, or else there was some drug mixed with the beverage.

I remember little after drinking it off, only that the appearance of things around me became indistinct; that the woman's form seemed to multiply itself, and to flit in various figures around me, bearing the same lineaments as she herself did.