It was evident that some one had been in the room; and that this was the
woman whose excited fancy had led her to look upon the face of the
corpse there could be no doubt, for the sheet was drawn aside just
sufficiently to discover the countenance. The fact was that the stranger was unknown at the inn, or probably ere
this the coffin lid would have been screwed on; but it was hoped, up to
the last moment, as advertisements had been put into the county papers,
that some one would come forward to identify and claim him. Such, however, had not been the case, and so his funeral had been
determined upon. The presence of so many persons at once effectually prevented any
individual from exhibiting, even if he felt any superstitious fears
about approaching the coffin; and so, with one accord, they surrounded
it, and looked upon the face of the dead. There was nothing repulsive in that countenance. The fact was that
decomposition had sufficiently advanced to induce a relaxation of the
muscles, and a softening of the fibres, so that an appearance of
calmness and repose had crept over the face which it did not wear
immediately after death. It happened, too, that the face was full of flesh--for the death had
been sudden, and there had not been that wasting away of the muscles and
integuments which makes the skin cling, as it were, to the bone, when
the ravages of long disease have exhausted the physical frame. There was, unquestionably, a plumpness, a freshness, and a sort of
vitality about the countenance that was remarkable. For a few moments there was a death-like stillness in the apartment, and
then one voice broke the silence by exclaiming,--

"He's a vampyre, and has come here to die. Well he knows he'd be taken
up by Sir Francis Varney, and become one of the crew." "Yes, yes," cried several voices at once; "a vampyre! a vampyre!" "Hold a moment," cried one; "let us find somebody in the house who has
seen him some days ago, and then we can ascertain if there's any
difference in his looks." This suggestion was agreed to, and a couple of stout men ran down
stairs, and returned in a few moments with a trembling waiter, whom they
had caught in the passage, and forced to accompany them. This man seemed to think that he was to be made a dreadful example of in
some sort of way; and, as he was dragged into the room, he trembled, and
looked as pale as death. "What have I done, gentlemen?" he said; "I ain't a vampyre. Don't be
driving a stake through me. I assure you, gentlemen, I'm only a waiter,
and have been for a matter of five-and-twenty years." "You'll be done no harm to," said one of his captors; "you've only got
to answer a question that will be put to you." "Oh, well, certainly, gentlemen; anything you please. Coming--coming, as
I always say; give your orders, the waiter's in the room." "Look upon the fare of that corpse." "Certainly, certainly--directly." "Have you ever seen it before?" "Seen it before! Lord bless you! yes, a dozen of times. I seed him afore
he died, and I seed him arter; and when the undertaker's men came, I
came up with them and I seed 'em put him in his coffin. You see I kept
an eye on 'em, gentlemen, 'cos knows well enough what they is. A cousin
of mine was in the trade, and he assures me as one of 'em always brings
a tooth-drawing concern in his pocket, and looks in the mouth of the
blessed corpse to see if there's a blessed tooth worth pulling out." "Hold your tongue," said one; "we want none of your nonsense. Do you see
any difference now in the face of the corpse to what it was some days
since?" "Well, I don't know; somehow, it don't look so rum." "Does it look fresher?" "Well, somehow or another, now you mention it, it's very odd, but it
does." "Enough," cried the man who had questioned him, with considerable
excitement of manner. "Neighbours, are we to have our wives and our
children scared to death by vampyres?" "No--no!" cried everybody. "Is not this, then, one of that dreadful order of beings?" "Yes--yes; what's to be done?" "Drive a stake through the body, and so prevent the possibility of
anything in the shape of a restoration." This was a terrific proposition; and even those who felt most strongly
upon the subject, and had their fears most awakened, shrank from
carrying it into effect. Others, again, applauded it, although they
determined, in their own minds, to keep far enough off from the
execution of the job, which they hoped would devolve upon others, so
that they might have all the security of feeling that such a process had
been gone through with the supposed vampyre, without being in any way
committed by the dreadful act. Nothing was easier than to procure a stake from the garden in the rear
of the premises; but it was one thing to have the means at hand of
carrying into effect so dreadful a proposition, and another actually to
do it. For the credit of human nature, we regret that even then, when
civilisation and popular education had by no means made such rapid
strides as in our times they have, such a proposition should be
entertained for a moment: but so it was; and just as an alarm was given
that a party of the soldiers had reached the inn and had taken
possession of the doorway with a determination to arrest the rioters, a
strong hedge-stake had been procured, and everything was in readiness
for the perpetration of the horrible deed. Even then those in the room, for they were tolerably sober, would have
revolted, probably, from the execution of so fearful an act; but the
entrance of a party of the military into the lower portion of the
tavern, induced those who had been making free with the strong liquors
below, to make a rush up-stairs to their companions with the hope of
escaping detection of the petty larceny, if they got into trouble on
account of the riot. These persons, infuriated by drink, were capable of anything, and to
them, accordingly, the more sober parties gladly surrendered the
disagreeable job of rendering the supposed vampyre perfectly innoxious,
by driving a hedge-stake through his body--a proceeding which, it was
currently believed, inflicted so much physical injury to the frame, as
to render his resuscitation out of the question. The cries of alarm from below, joined now to the shouts of those mad
rioters, produced a scene of dreadful confusion. We cannot, for we revolt at the office, describe particularly the
dreadful outrage which was committed upon the corpse; suffice it that
two or three, maddened by drink, and incited by the others, plunged the
hedge-stake through the body, and there left it, a sickening and
horrible spectacle to any one who might cast his eyes upon it. With such violence had the frightful and inhuman deed been committed,
that the bottom of the coffin was perforated by the stake so that the
corpse was actually nailed to its last earthly tenement.