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diff --git a/14471-0.txt b/14471-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06950d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/14471-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7093 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14471 *** + +THE EMPTY HOUSE + +AND OTHER GHOST STORIES + + +BY + +ALGERNON BLACKWOOD + +AUTHOR OF + +"JOHN SILENCE" "THE LOST VALLEY" ETC. + + +LONDON +EVELEIGH NASH COMPANY +LIMITED + +1916 + + +First Printed 1906 +Uniform Edition 1915 +Reprinted 1916 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE EMPTY HOUSE + +A HAUNTED ISLAND + +A CASE OF EAVESDROPPING + +KEEPING HIS PROMISE + +WITH INTENT TO STEAL + +THE WOOD OF THE DEAD + +SMITH: AN EPISODE IN A LODGING-HOUSE + +A SUSPICIOUS GIFT + +THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A PRIVATE SECRETARY IN NEW YORK + +SKELETON LAKE: AN EPISODE IN CAMP + + + + +THE EMPTY HOUSE + + +Certain houses, like certain persons, manage somehow to proclaim at once +their character for evil. In the case of the latter, no particular +feature need betray them; they may boast an open countenance and an +ingenuous smile; and yet a little of their company leaves the +unalterable conviction that there is something radically amiss with +their being: that they are evil. Willy nilly, they seem to communicate +an atmosphere of secret and wicked thoughts which makes those in their +immediate neighbourhood shrink from them as from a thing diseased. + +And, perhaps, with houses the same principle is operative, and it is the +aroma of evil deeds committed under a particular roof, long after the +actual doers have passed away, that makes the gooseflesh come and the +hair rise. Something of the original passion of the evil-doer, and of +the horror felt by his victim, enters the heart of the innocent watcher, +and he becomes suddenly conscious of tingling nerves, creeping skin, +and a chilling of the blood. He is terror-stricken without apparent +cause. + +There was manifestly nothing in the external appearance of this +particular house to bear out the tales of the horror that was said to +reign within. It was neither lonely nor unkempt. It stood, crowded into +a corner of the square, and looked exactly like the houses on either +side of it. It had the same number of windows as its neighbours; the +same balcony overlooking the gardens; the same white steps leading up to +the heavy black front door; and, in the rear, there was the same narrow +strip of green, with neat box borders, running up to the wall that +divided it from the backs of the adjoining houses. Apparently, too, the +number of chimney pots on the roof was the same; the breadth and angle +of the eaves; and even the height of the dirty area railings. + +And yet this house in the square, that seemed precisely similar to its +fifty ugly neighbours, was as a matter of fact entirely +different--horribly different. + +Wherein lay this marked, invisible difference is impossible to say. It +cannot be ascribed wholly to the imagination, because persons who had +spent some time in the house, knowing nothing of the facts, had declared +positively that certain rooms were so disagreeable they would rather die +than enter them again, and that the atmosphere of the whole house +produced in them symptoms of a genuine terror; while the series of +innocent tenants who had tried to live in it and been forced to decamp +at the shortest possible notice, was indeed little less than a scandal +in the town. + +When Shorthouse arrived to pay a "week-end" visit to his Aunt Julia in +her little house on the sea-front at the other end of the town, he found +her charged to the brim with mystery and excitement. He had only +received her telegram that morning, and he had come anticipating +boredom; but the moment he touched her hand and kissed her apple-skin +wrinkled cheek, he caught the first wave of her electrical condition. +The impression deepened when he learned that there were to be no other +visitors, and that he had been telegraphed for with a very special +object. + +Something was in the wind, and the "something" would doubtless bear +fruit; for this elderly spinster aunt, with a mania for psychical +research, had brains as well as will power, and by hook or by crook she +usually managed to accomplish her ends. The revelation was made soon +after tea, when she sidled close up to him as they paced slowly along +the sea-front in the dusk. + +"I've got the keys," she announced in a delighted, yet half awesome +voice. "Got them till Monday!" + +"The keys of the bathing-machine, or--?" he asked innocently, looking +from the sea to the town. Nothing brought her so quickly to the point as +feigning stupidity. + +"Neither," she whispered. "I've got the keys of the haunted house in the +square--and I'm going there to-night." + +Shorthouse was conscious of the slightest possible tremor down his back. +He dropped his teasing tone. Something in her voice and manner thrilled +him. She was in earnest. + +"But you can't go alone--" he began. + +"That's why I wired for you," she said with decision. + +He turned to look at her. The ugly, lined, enigmatical face was alive +with excitement. There was the glow of genuine enthusiasm round it like +a halo. The eyes shone. He caught another wave of her excitement, and a +second tremor, more marked than the first, accompanied it. + +"Thanks, Aunt Julia," he said politely; "thanks awfully." + +"I should not dare to go quite alone," she went on, raising her voice; +"but with you I should enjoy it immensely. You're afraid of nothing, I +know." + +"Thanks _so_ much," he said again. "Er--is anything likely to happen?" + +"A great deal _has_ happened," she whispered, "though it's been most +cleverly hushed up. Three tenants have come and gone in the last few +months, and the house is said to be empty for good now." + +In spite of himself Shorthouse became interested. His aunt was so very +much in earnest. + +"The house is very old indeed," she went on, "and the story--an +unpleasant one--dates a long way back. It has to do with a murder +committed by a jealous stableman who had some affair with a servant in +the house. One night he managed to secrete himself in the cellar, and +when everyone was asleep, he crept upstairs to the servants' quarters, +chased the girl down to the next landing, and before anyone could come +to the rescue threw her bodily over the banisters into the hall below." + +"And the stableman--?" + +"Was caught, I believe, and hanged for murder; but it all happened a +century ago, and I've not been able to get more details of the story." + +Shorthouse now felt his interest thoroughly aroused; but, though he was +not particularly nervous for himself, he hesitated a little on his +aunt's account. + +"On one condition," he said at length. + +"Nothing will prevent my going," she said firmly; "but I may as well +hear your condition." + +"That you guarantee your power of self-control if anything really +horrible happens. I mean--that you are sure you won't get too +frightened." + +"Jim," she said scornfully, "I'm not young, I know, nor are my nerves; +but _with you_ I should be afraid of nothing in the world!" + +This, of course, settled it, for Shorthouse had no pretensions to being +other than a very ordinary young man, and an appeal to his vanity was +irresistible. He agreed to go. + +Instinctively, by a sort of sub-conscious preparation, he kept himself +and his forces well in hand the whole evening, compelling an +accumulative reserve of control by that nameless inward process of +gradually putting all the emotions away and turning the key upon them--a +process difficult to describe, but wonderfully effective, as all men who +have lived through severe trials of the inner man well understand. +Later, it stood him in good stead. + +But it was not until half-past ten, when they stood in the hall, well in +the glare of friendly lamps and still surrounded by comforting human +influences, that he had to make the first call upon this store of +collected strength. For, once the door was closed, and he saw the +deserted silent street stretching away white in the moonlight before +them, it came to him clearly that the real test that night would be in +dealing with _two fears_ instead of one. He would have to carry his +aunt's fear as well as his own. And, as he glanced down at her +sphinx-like countenance and realised that it might assume no pleasant +aspect in a rush of real terror, he felt satisfied with only one thing +in the whole adventure--that he had confidence in his own will and power +to stand against any shock that might come. + +Slowly they walked along the empty streets of the town; a bright autumn +moon silvered the roofs, casting deep shadows; there was no breath of +wind; and the trees in the formal gardens by the sea-front watched them +silently as they passed along. To his aunt's occasional remarks +Shorthouse made no reply, realising that she was simply surrounding +herself with mental buffers--saying ordinary things to prevent herself +thinking of extra-ordinary things. Few windows showed lights, and from +scarcely a single chimney came smoke or sparks. Shorthouse had already +begun to notice everything, even the smallest details. Presently they +stopped at the street corner and looked up at the name on the side of +the house full in the moonlight, and with one accord, but without +remark, turned into the square and crossed over to the side of it that +lay in shadow. + +"The number of the house is thirteen," whispered a voice at his side; +and neither of them made the obvious reference, but passed across the +broad sheet of moonlight and began to march up the pavement in silence. + +It was about half-way up the square that Shorthouse felt an arm slipped +quietly but significantly into his own, and knew then that their +adventure had begun in earnest, and that his companion was already +yielding imperceptibly to the influences against them. She needed +support. + +A few minutes later they stopped before a tall, narrow house that rose +before them into the night, ugly in shape and painted a dingy white. +Shutterless windows, without blinds, stared down upon them, shining here +and there in the moonlight. There were weather streaks in the wall and +cracks in the paint, and the balcony bulged out from the first floor a +little unnaturally. But, beyond this generally forlorn appearance of an +unoccupied house, there was nothing at first sight to single out this +particular mansion for the evil character it had most certainly +acquired. + +Taking a look over their shoulders to make sure they had not been +followed, they went boldly up the steps and stood against the huge black +door that fronted them forbiddingly. But the first wave of nervousness +was now upon them, and Shorthouse fumbled a long time with the key +before he could fit it into the lock at all. For a moment, if truth were +told, they both hoped it would not open, for they were a prey to various +unpleasant emotions as they stood there on the threshold of their +ghostly adventure. Shorthouse, shuffling with the key and hampered by +the steady weight on his arm, certainly felt the solemnity of the +moment. It was as if the whole world--for all experience seemed at that +instant concentrated in his own consciousness--were listening to the +grating noise of that key. A stray puff of wind wandering down the empty +street woke a momentary rustling in the trees behind them, but otherwise +this rattling of the key was the only sound audible; and at last it +turned in the lock and the heavy door swung open and revealed a yawning +gulf of darkness beyond. + +With a last glance at the moonlit square, they passed quickly in, and +the door slammed behind them with a roar that echoed prodigiously +through empty halls and passages. But, instantly, with the echoes, +another sound made itself heard, and Aunt Julia leaned suddenly so +heavily upon him that he had to take a step backwards to save himself +from falling. + +A man had coughed close beside them--so close that it seemed they must +have been actually by his side in the darkness. + +With the possibility of practical jokes in his mind, Shorthouse at once +swung his heavy stick in the direction of the sound; but it met nothing +more solid than air. He heard his aunt give a little gasp beside him. + +"There's someone here," she whispered; "I heard him." + +"Be quiet!" he said sternly. "It was nothing but the noise of the front +door." + +"Oh! get a light--quick!" she added, as her nephew, fumbling with a box +of matches, opened it upside down and let them all fall with a rattle on +to the stone floor. + +The sound, however, was not repeated; and there was no evidence of +retreating footsteps. In another minute they had a candle burning, using +an empty end of a cigar case as a holder; and when the first flare had +died down he held the impromptu lamp aloft and surveyed the scene. And +it was dreary enough in all conscience, for there is nothing more +desolate in all the abodes of men than an unfurnished house dimly lit, +silent, and forsaken, and yet tenanted by rumour with the memories of +evil and violent histories. + +They were standing in a wide hall-way; on their left was the open door +of a spacious dining-room, and in front the hall ran, ever narrowing, +into a long, dark passage that led apparently to the top of the kitchen +stairs. The broad uncarpeted staircase rose in a sweep before them, +everywhere draped in shadows, except for a single spot about half-way up +where the moonlight came in through the window and fell on a bright +patch on the boards. This shaft of light shed a faint radiance above and +below it, lending to the objects within its reach a misty outline that +was infinitely more suggestive and ghostly than complete darkness. +Filtered moonlight always seems to paint faces on the surrounding gloom, +and as Shorthouse peered up into the well of darkness and thought of the +countless empty rooms and passages in the upper part of the old house, +he caught himself longing again for the safety of the moonlit square, or +the cosy, bright drawing-room they had left an hour before. Then +realising that these thoughts were dangerous, he thrust them away again +and summoned all his energy for concentration on the present. + +"Aunt Julia," he said aloud, severely, "we must now go through the house +from top to bottom and make a thorough search." + +The echoes of his voice died away slowly all over the building, and in +the intense silence that followed he turned to look at her. In the +candle-light he saw that her face was already ghastly pale; but she +dropped his arm for a moment and said in a whisper, stepping close in +front of him-- + +"I agree. We must be sure there's no one hiding. That's the first +thing." + +She spoke with evident effort, and he looked at her with admiration. + +"You feel quite sure of yourself? It's not too late--" + +"I think so," she whispered, her eyes shifting nervously toward the +shadows behind. "Quite sure, only one thing--" + +"What's that?" + +"You must never leave me alone for an instant." + +"As long as you understand that any sound or appearance must be +investigated at once, for to hesitate means to admit fear. That is +fatal." + +"Agreed," she said, a little shakily, after a moment's hesitation. "I'll +try--" + +Arm in arm, Shorthouse holding the dripping candle and the stick, while +his aunt carried the cloak over her shoulders, figures of utter comedy +to all but themselves, they began a systematic search. + +Stealthily, walking on tip-toe and shading the candle lest it should +betray their presence through the shutterless windows, they went first +into the big dining-room. There was not a stick of furniture to be +seen. Bare walls, ugly mantel-pieces and empty grates stared at them. +Everything, they felt, resented their intrusion, watching them, as it +were, with veiled eyes; whispers followed them; shadows flitted +noiselessly to right and left; something seemed ever at their back, +watching, waiting an opportunity to do them injury. There was the +inevitable sense that operations which went on when the room was empty +had been temporarily suspended till they were well out of the way again. +The whole dark interior of the old building seemed to become a malignant +Presence that rose up, warning them to desist and mind their own +business; every moment the strain on the nerves increased. + +Out of the gloomy dining-room they passed through large folding doors +into a sort of library or smoking-room, wrapt equally in silence, +darkness, and dust; and from this they regained the hall near the top of +the back stairs. + +Here a pitch black tunnel opened before them into the lower regions, +and--it must be confessed--they hesitated. But only for a minute. With +the worst of the night still to come it was essential to turn from +nothing. Aunt Julia stumbled at the top step of the dark descent, ill +lit by the flickering candle, and even Shorthouse felt at least half +the decision go out of his legs. + +"Come on!" he said peremptorily, and his voice ran on and lost itself in +the dark, empty spaces below. + +"I'm coming," she faltered, catching his arm with unnecessary violence. + +They went a little unsteadily down the stone steps, a cold, damp air +meeting them in the face, close and mal-odorous. The kitchen, into which +the stairs led along a narrow passage, was large, with a lofty ceiling. +Several doors opened out of it--some into cupboards with empty jars +still standing on the shelves, and others into horrible little ghostly +back offices, each colder and less inviting than the last. Black beetles +scurried over the floor, and once, when they knocked against a deal +table standing in a corner, something about the size of a cat jumped +down with a rush and fled, scampering across the stone floor into the +darkness. Everywhere there was a sense of recent occupation, an +impression of sadness and gloom. + +Leaving the main kitchen, they next went towards the scullery. The door +was standing ajar, and as they pushed it open to its full extent Aunt +Julia uttered a piercing scream, which she instantly tried to stifle by +placing her hand over her mouth. For a second Shorthouse stood +stock-still, catching his breath. He felt as if his spine had suddenly +become hollow and someone had filled it with particles of ice. + +Facing them, directly in their way between the doorposts, stood the +figure of a woman. She had dishevelled hair and wildly staring eyes, and +her face was terrified and white as death. + +She stood there motionless for the space of a single second. Then the +candle flickered and she was gone--gone utterly--and the door framed +nothing but empty darkness. + +"Only the beastly jumping candle-light," he said quickly, in a voice +that sounded like someone else's and was only half under control. "Come +on, aunt. There's nothing there." + +He dragged her forward. With a clattering of feet and a great appearance +of boldness they went on, but over his body the skin moved as if +crawling ants covered it, and he knew by the weight on his arm that he +was supplying the force of locomotion for two. The scullery was cold, +bare, and empty; more like a large prison cell than anything else. They +went round it, tried the door into the yard, and the windows, but found +them all fastened securely. His aunt moved beside him like a person in +a dream. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she seemed merely to follow the +pressure of his arm. Her courage filled him with amazement. At the same +time he noticed that a certain odd change had come over her face, a +change which somehow evaded his power of analysis. + +"There's nothing here, aunty," he repeated aloud quickly. "Let's go +upstairs and see the rest of the house. Then we'll choose a room to wait +up in." + +She followed him obediently, keeping close to his side, and they locked +the kitchen door behind them. It was a relief to get up again. In the +hall there was more light than before, for the moon had travelled a +little further down the stairs. Cautiously they began to go up into the +dark vault of the upper house, the boards creaking under their weight. + +On the first floor they found the large double drawing-rooms, a search +of which revealed nothing. Here also was no sign of furniture or recent +occupancy; nothing but dust and neglect and shadows. They opened the big +folding doors between front and back drawing-rooms and then came out +again to the landing and went on upstairs. + +They had not gone up more than a dozen steps when they both +simultaneously stopped to listen, looking into each other's eyes with a +new apprehension across the flickering candle flame. From the room they +had left hardly ten seconds before came the sound of doors quietly +closing. It was beyond all question; they heard the booming noise that +accompanies the shutting of heavy doors, followed by the sharp catching +of the latch. + +"We must go back and see," said Shorthouse briefly, in a low tone, and +turning to go downstairs again. + +Somehow she managed to drag after him, her feet catching in her dress, +her face livid. + +When they entered the front drawing-room it was plain that the folding +doors had been closed--half a minute before. Without hesitation +Shorthouse opened them. He almost expected to see someone facing him in +the back room; but only darkness and cold air met him. They went through +both rooms, finding nothing unusual. They tried in every way to make the +doors close of themselves, but there was not wind enough even to set the +candle flame flickering. The doors would not move without strong +pressure. All was silent as the grave. Undeniably the rooms were utterly +empty, and the house utterly still. + +"It's beginning," whispered a voice at his elbow which he hardly +recognised as his aunt's. + +He nodded acquiescence, taking out his watch to note the time. It was +fifteen minutes before midnight; he made the entry of exactly what had +occurred in his notebook, setting the candle in its case upon the floor +in order to do so. It took a moment or two to balance it safely against +the wall. + +Aunt Julia always declared that at this moment she was not actually +watching him, but had turned her head towards the inner room, where she +fancied she heard something moving; but, at any rate, both positively +agreed that there came a sound of rushing feet, heavy and very +swift--and the next instant the candle was out! + +But to Shorthouse himself had come more than this, and he has always +thanked his fortunate stars that it came to him alone and not to his +aunt too. For, as he rose from the stooping position of balancing the +candle, and before it was actually extinguished, a face thrust itself +forward so close to his own that he could almost have touched it with +his lips. It was a face working with passion; a man's face, dark, with +thick features, and angry, savage eyes. It belonged to a common man, and +it was evil in its ordinary normal expression, no doubt, but as he saw +it, alive with intense, aggressive emotion, it was a malignant and +terrible human countenance. + +There was no movement of the air; nothing but the sound of rushing +feet--stockinged or muffled feet; the apparition of the face; and the +almost simultaneous extinguishing of the candle. + +In spite of himself, Shorthouse uttered a little cry, nearly losing his +balance as his aunt clung to him with her whole weight in one moment of +real, uncontrollable terror. She made no sound, but simply seized him +bodily. Fortunately, however, she had seen nothing, but had only heard +the rushing feet, for her control returned almost at once, and he was +able to disentangle himself and strike a match. + +The shadows ran away on all sides before the glare, and his aunt stooped +down and groped for the cigar case with the precious candle. Then they +discovered that the candle had not been _blown_ out at all; it had been +_crushed_ out. The wick was pressed down into the wax, which was +flattened as if by some smooth, heavy instrument. + +How his companion so quickly overcame her terror, Shorthouse never +properly understood; but his admiration for her self-control increased +tenfold, and at the same time served to feed his own dying flame--for +which he was undeniably grateful. Equally inexplicable to him was the +evidence of physical force they had just witnessed. He at once +suppressed the memory of stories he had heard of "physical mediums" and +their dangerous phenomena; for if these were true, and either his aunt +or himself was unwittingly a physical medium, it meant that they were +simply aiding to focus the forces of a haunted house already charged to +the brim. It was like walking with unprotected lamps among uncovered +stores of gun-powder. + +So, with as little reflection as possible, he simply relit the candle +and went up to the next floor. The arm in his trembled, it is true, and +his own tread was often uncertain, but they went on with thoroughness, +and after a search revealing nothing they climbed the last flight of +stairs to the top floor of all. + +Here they found a perfect nest of small servants' rooms, with broken +pieces of furniture, dirty cane-bottomed chairs, chests of drawers, +cracked mirrors, and decrepit bedsteads. The rooms had low sloping +ceilings already hung here and there with cobwebs, small windows, and +badly plastered walls--a depressing and dismal region which they were +glad to leave behind. + +It was on the stroke of midnight when they entered a small room on the +third floor, close to the top of the stairs, and arranged to make +themselves comfortable for the remainder of their adventure. It was +absolutely bare, and was said to be the room--then used as a clothes +closet--into which the infuriated groom had chased his victim and +finally caught her. Outside, across the narrow landing, began the stairs +leading up to the floor above, and the servants' quarters where they had +just searched. + +In spite of the chilliness of the night there was something in the air +of this room that cried for an open window. But there was more than +this. Shorthouse could only describe it by saying that he felt less +master of himself here than in any other part of the house. There was +something that acted directly on the nerves, tiring the resolution, +enfeebling the will. He was conscious of this result before he had been +in the room five minutes, and it was in the short time they stayed there +that he suffered the wholesale depletion of his vital forces, which +was, for himself, the chief horror of the whole experience. + +They put the candle on the floor of the cupboard, leaving the door a few +inches ajar, so that there was no glare to confuse the eyes, and no +shadow to shift about on walls and ceiling. Then they spread the cloak +on the floor and sat down to wait, with their backs against the wall. + +Shorthouse was within two feet of the door on to the landing; his +position commanded a good view of the main staircase leading down into +the darkness, and also of the beginning of the servants' stairs going to +the floor above; the heavy stick lay beside him within easy reach. + +The moon was now high above the house. Through the open window they +could see the comforting stars like friendly eyes watching in the sky. +One by one the clocks of the town struck midnight, and when the sounds +died away the deep silence of a windless night fell again over +everything. Only the boom of the sea, far away and lugubrious, filled +the air with hollow murmurs. + +Inside the house the silence became awful; awful, he thought, because +any minute now it might be broken by sounds portending terror. The +strain of waiting told more and more severely on the nerves; they +talked in whispers when they talked at all, for their voices aloud +sounded queer and unnatural. A chilliness, not altogether due to the +night air, invaded the room, and made them cold. The influences against +them, whatever these might be, were slowly robbing them of +self-confidence, and the power of decisive action; their forces were on +the wane, and the possibility of real fear took on a new and terrible +meaning. He began to tremble for the elderly woman by his side, whose +pluck could hardly save her beyond a certain extent. + +He heard the blood singing in his veins. It sometimes seemed so loud +that he fancied it prevented his hearing properly certain other sounds +that were beginning very faintly to make themselves audible in the +depths of the house. Every time he fastened his attention on these +sounds, they instantly ceased. They certainly came no nearer. Yet he +could not rid himself of the idea that movement was going on somewhere +in the lower regions of the house. The drawing-room floor, where the +doors had been so strangely closed, seemed too near; the sounds were +further off than that. He thought of the great kitchen, with the +scurrying black-beetles, and of the dismal little scullery; but, +somehow or other, they did not seem to come from there either. Surely +they were not _outside_ the house! + +Then, suddenly, the truth flashed into his mind, and for the space of a +minute he felt as if his blood had stopped flowing and turned to ice. + +The sounds were not downstairs at all; they were _upstairs_--upstairs, +somewhere among those horrid gloomy little servants' rooms with their +bits of broken furniture, low ceilings, and cramped windows--upstairs +where the victim had first been disturbed and stalked to her death. + +And the moment he discovered where the sounds were, he began to hear +them more clearly. It was the sound of feet, moving stealthily along the +passage overhead, in and out among the rooms, and past the furniture. + +He turned quickly to steal a glance at the motionless figure seated +beside him, to note whether she had shared his discovery. The faint +candle-light coming through the crack in the cupboard door, threw her +strongly-marked face into vivid relief against the white of the wall. +But it was something else that made him catch his breath and stare +again. An extraordinary something had come into her face and seemed to +spread over her features like a mask; it smoothed out the deep lines +and drew the skin everywhere a little tighter so that the wrinkles +disappeared; it brought into the face--with the sole exception of the +old eyes--an appearance of youth and almost of childhood. + +He stared in speechless amazement--amazement that was dangerously near +to horror. It was his aunt's face indeed, but it was her face of forty +years ago, the vacant innocent face of a girl. He had heard stories of +that strange effect of terror which could wipe a human countenance clean +of other emotions, obliterating all previous expressions; but he had +never realised that it could be literally true, or could mean anything +so simply horrible as what he now saw. For the dreadful signature of +overmastering fear was written plainly in that utter vacancy of the +girlish face beside him; and when, feeling his intense gaze, she turned +to look at him, he instinctively closed his eyes tightly to shut out the +sight. + +Yet, when he turned a minute later, his feelings well in hand, he saw to +his intense relief another expression; his aunt was smiling, and though +the face was deathly white, the awful veil had lifted and the normal +look was returning. + +"Anything wrong?" was all he could think of to say at the moment. And +the answer was eloquent, coming from such a woman. + +"I feel cold--and a little frightened," she whispered. + +He offered to close the window, but she seized hold of him and begged +him not to leave her side even for an instant. + +"It's upstairs, I know," she whispered, with an odd half laugh; "but I +can't possibly go up." + +But Shorthouse thought otherwise, knowing that in action lay their best +hope of self-control. + +He took the brandy flask and poured out a glass of neat spirit, stiff +enough to help anybody over anything. She swallowed it with a little +shiver. His only idea now was to get out of the house before her +collapse became inevitable; but this could not safely be done by turning +tail and running from the enemy. Inaction was no longer possible; every +minute he was growing less master of himself, and desperate, aggressive +measures were imperative without further delay. Moreover, the action +must be taken _towards_ the enemy, not away from it; the climax, if +necessary and unavoidable, would have to be faced boldly. He could do it +now; but in ten minutes he might not have the force left to act for +himself, much less for both! + +Upstairs, the sounds were meanwhile becoming louder and closer, +accompanied by occasional creaking of the boards. Someone was moving +stealthily about, stumbling now and then awkwardly against the +furniture. + +Waiting a few moments to allow the tremendous dose of spirits to produce +its effect, and knowing this would last but a short time under the +circumstances, Shorthouse then quietly got on his feet, saying in a +determined voice-- + +"Now, Aunt Julia, we'll go upstairs and find out what all this noise is +about. You must come too. It's what we agreed." + +He picked up his stick and went to the cupboard for the candle. A limp +form rose shakily beside him breathing hard, and he heard a voice say +very faintly something about being "ready to come." The woman's courage +amazed him; it was so much greater than his own; and, as they advanced, +holding aloft the dripping candle, some subtle force exhaled from this +trembling, white-faced old woman at his side that was the true source of +his inspiration. It held something really great that shamed him and gave +him the support without which he would have proved far less equal to the +occasion. + +They crossed the dark landing, avoiding with their eyes the deep black +space over the banisters. Then they began to mount the narrow staircase +to meet the sounds which, minute by minute, grew louder and nearer. +About half-way up the stairs Aunt Julia stumbled and Shorthouse turned +to catch her by the arm, and just at that moment there came a terrific +crash in the servants' corridor overhead. It was instantly followed by a +shrill, agonised scream that was a cry of terror and a cry for help +melted into one. + +Before they could move aside, or go down a single step, someone came +rushing along the passage overhead, blundering horribly, racing madly, +at full speed, three steps at a time, down the very staircase where they +stood. The steps were light and uncertain; but close behind them sounded +the heavier tread of another person, and the staircase seemed to shake. + +Shorthouse and his companion just had time to flatten themselves against +the wall when the jumble of flying steps was upon them, and two persons, +with the slightest possible interval between them, dashed past at full +speed. It was a perfect whirlwind of sound breaking in upon the midnight +silence of the empty building. + +The two runners, pursuer and pursued, had passed clean through them +where they stood, and already with a thud the boards below had received +first one, then the other. Yet they had seen absolutely nothing--not a +hand, or arm, or face, or even a shred of flying clothing. + +There came a second's pause. Then the first one, the lighter of the two, +obviously the pursued one, ran with uncertain footsteps into the little +room which Shorthouse and his aunt had just left. The heavier one +followed. There was a sound of scuffling, gasping, and smothered +screaming; and then out on to the landing came the step--of a single +person _treading weightily_. + +A dead silence followed for the space of half a minute, and then was +heard a rushing sound through the air. It was followed by a dull, +crashing thud in the depths of the house below--on the stone floor of +the hall. + +Utter silence reigned after. Nothing moved. The flame of the candle was +steady. It had been steady the whole time, and the air had been +undisturbed by any movement whatsoever. Palsied with terror, Aunt Julia, +without waiting for her companion, began fumbling her way downstairs; +she was crying gently to herself, and when Shorthouse put his arm round +her and half carried her he felt that she was trembling like a leaf. He +went into the little room and picked up the cloak from the floor, and, +arm in arm, walking very slowly, without speaking a word or looking once +behind them, they marched down the three flights into the hall. + +In the hall they saw nothing, but the whole way down the stairs they +were conscious that someone followed them; step by step; when they went +faster IT was left behind, and when they went more slowly IT caught them +up. But never once did they look behind to see; and at each turning of +the staircase they lowered their eyes for fear of the following horror +they might see upon the stairs above. + +With trembling hands Shorthouse opened the front door, and they walked +out into the moonlight and drew a deep breath of the cool night air +blowing in from the sea. + + + + +A HAUNTED ISLAND + + +The following events occurred on a small island of isolated position in +a large Canadian lake, to whose cool waters the inhabitants of Montreal +and Toronto flee for rest and recreation in the hot months. It is only +to be regretted that events of such peculiar interest to the genuine +student of the psychical should be entirely uncorroborated. Such +unfortunately, however, is the case. + +Our own party of nearly twenty had returned to Montreal that very day, +and I was left in solitary possession for a week or two longer, in order +to accomplish some important "reading" for the law which I had foolishly +neglected during the summer. + +It was late in September, and the big trout and maskinonge were stirring +themselves in the depths of the lake, and beginning slowly to move up to +the surface waters as the north winds and early frosts lowered their +temperature. Already the maples were crimson and gold, and the wild +laughter of the loons echoed in sheltered bays that never knew their +strange cry in the summer. + +With a whole island to oneself, a two-storey cottage, a canoe, and only +the chipmunks, and the farmer's weekly visit with eggs and bread, to +disturb one, the opportunities for hard reading might be very great. It +all depends! + +The rest of the party had gone off with many warnings to beware of +Indians, and not to stay late enough to be the victim of a frost that +thinks nothing of forty below zero. After they had gone, the loneliness +of the situation made itself unpleasantly felt. There were no other +islands within six or seven miles, and though the mainland forests lay a +couple of miles behind me, they stretched for a very great distance +unbroken by any signs of human habitation. But, though the island was +completely deserted and silent, the rocks and trees that had echoed +human laughter and voices almost every hour of the day for two months +could not fail to retain some memories of it all; and I was not +surprised to fancy I heard a shout or a cry as I passed from rock to +rock, and more than once to imagine that I heard my own name called +aloud. + +In the cottage there were six tiny little bedrooms divided from one +another by plain unvarnished partitions of pine. A wooden bedstead, a +mattress, and a chair, stood in each room, but I only found two mirrors, +and one of these was broken. + +The boards creaked a good deal as I moved about, and the signs of +occupation were so recent that I could hardly believe I was alone. I +half expected to find someone left behind, still trying to crowd into a +box more than it would hold. The door of one room was stiff, and refused +for a moment to open, and it required very little persuasion to imagine +someone was holding the handle on the inside, and that when it opened I +should meet a pair of human eyes. + +A thorough search of the floor led me to select as my own sleeping +quarters a little room with a diminutive balcony over the verandah roof. +The room was very small, but the bed was large, and had the best +mattress of them all. It was situated directly over the sitting-room +where I should live and do my "reading," and the miniature window looked +out to the rising sun. With the exception of a narrow path which led +from the front door and verandah through the trees to the boat-landing, +the island was densely covered with maples, hemlocks, and cedars. The +trees gathered in round the cottage so closely that the slightest wind +made the branches scrape the roof and tap the wooden walls. A few +moments after sunset the darkness became impenetrable, and ten yards +beyond the glare of the lamps that shone through the sitting-room +windows--of which there were four--you could not see an inch before your +nose, nor move a step without running up against a tree. + +The rest of that day I spent moving my belongings from my tent to the +sitting-room, taking stock of the contents of the larder, and chopping +enough wood for the stove to last me for a week. After that, just before +sunset, I went round the island a couple of times in my canoe for +precaution's sake. I had never dreamed of doing this before, but when a +man is alone he does things that never occur to him when he is one of a +large party. + +How lonely the island seemed when I landed again! The sun was down, and +twilight is unknown in these northern regions. The darkness comes up at +once. The canoe safely pulled up and turned over on her face, I groped +my way up the little narrow pathway to the verandah. The six lamps were +soon burning merrily in the front room; but in the kitchen, where I +"dined," the shadows were so gloomy, and the lamplight was so +inadequate, that the stars could be seen peeping through the cracks +between the rafters. + +I turned in early that night. Though it was calm and there was no wind, +the creaking of my bedstead and the musical gurgle of the water over the +rocks below were not the only sounds that reached my ears. As I lay +awake, the appalling emptiness of the house grew upon me. The corridors +and vacant rooms seemed to echo innumerable footsteps, shufflings, the +rustle of skirts, and a constant undertone of whispering. When sleep at +length overtook me, the breathings and noises, however, passed gently to +mingle with the voices of my dreams. + +A week passed by, and the "reading" progressed favourably. On the tenth +day of my solitude, a strange thing happened. I awoke after a good +night's sleep to find myself possessed with a marked repugnance for my +room. The air seemed to stifle me. The more I tried to define the cause +of this dislike, the more unreasonable it appeared. There was something +about the room that made me afraid. Absurd as it seems, this feeling +clung to me obstinately while dressing, and more than once I caught +myself shivering, and conscious of an inclination to get out of the room +as quickly as possible. The more I tried to laugh it away, the more real +it became; and when at last I was dressed, and went out into the +passage, and downstairs into the kitchen, it was with feelings of +relief, such as I might imagine would accompany one's escape from the +presence of a dangerous contagious disease. + +While cooking my breakfast, I carefully recalled every night spent in +the room, in the hope that I might in some way connect the dislike I now +felt with some disagreeable incident that had occurred in it. But the +only thing I could recall was one stormy night when I suddenly awoke and +heard the boards creaking so loudly in the corridor that I was convinced +there were people in the house. So certain was I of this, that I had +descended the stairs, gun in hand, only to find the doors and windows +securely fastened, and the mice and black-beetles in sole possession of +the floor. This was certainly not sufficient to account for the strength +of my feelings. + +The morning hours I spent in steady reading; and when I broke off in the +middle of the day for a swim and luncheon, I was very much surprised, +if not a little alarmed, to find that my dislike for the room had, if +anything, grown stronger. Going upstairs to get a book, I experienced +the most marked aversion to entering the room, and while within I was +conscious all the time of an uncomfortable feeling that was half +uneasiness and half apprehension. The result of it was that, instead of +reading, I spent the afternoon on the water paddling and fishing, and +when I got home about sundown, brought with me half a dozen delicious +black bass for the supper-table and the larder. + +As sleep was an important matter to me at this time, I had decided that +if my aversion to the room was so strongly marked on my return as it had +been before, I would move my bed down into the sitting-room, and sleep +there. This was, I argued, in no sense a concession to an absurd and +fanciful fear, but simply a precaution to ensure a good night's sleep. A +bad night involved the loss of the next day's reading,--a loss I was not +prepared to incur. + +I accordingly moved my bed downstairs into a corner of the sitting-room +facing the door, and was moreover uncommonly glad when the operation +was completed, and the door of the bedroom closed finally upon the +shadows, the silence, and the strange _fear_ that shared the room with +them. + +The croaking stroke of the kitchen clock sounded the hour of eight as I +finished washing up my few dishes, and closing the kitchen door behind +me, passed into the front room. All the lamps were lit, and their +reflectors, which I had polished up during the day, threw a blaze of +light into the room. + +Outside the night was still and warm. Not a breath of air was stirring; +the waves were silent, the trees motionless, and heavy clouds hung like +an oppressive curtain over the heavens. The darkness seemed to have +rolled up with unusual swiftness, and not the faintest glow of colour +remained to show where the sun had set. There was present in the +atmosphere that ominous and overwhelming silence which so often precedes +the most violent storms. + +I sat down to my books with my brain unusually clear, and in my heart +the pleasant satisfaction of knowing that five black bass were lying in +the ice-house, and that to-morrow morning the old farmer would arrive +with fresh bread and eggs. I was soon absorbed in my books. + +As the night wore on the silence deepened. Even the chipmunks were +still; and the boards of the floors and walls ceased creaking. I read on +steadily till, from the gloomy shadows of the kitchen, came the hoarse +sound of the clock striking nine. How loud the strokes sounded! They +were like blows of a big hammer. I closed one book and opened another, +feeling that I was just warming up to my work. + +This, however, did not last long. I presently found that I was reading +the same paragraphs over twice, simple paragraphs that did not require +such effort. Then I noticed that my mind began to wander to other +things, and the effort to recall my thoughts became harder with each +digression. Concentration was growing momentarily more difficult. +Presently I discovered that I had turned over two pages instead of one, +and had not noticed my mistake until I was well down the page. This was +becoming serious. What was the disturbing influence? It could not be +physical fatigue. On the contrary, my mind was unusually alert, and in a +more receptive condition than usual. I made a new and determined effort +to read, and for a short time succeeded in giving my whole attention to +my subject. But in a very few moments again I found myself leaning back +in my chair, staring vacantly into space. + +Something was evidently at work in my sub-consciousness. There was +something I had neglected to do. Perhaps the kitchen door and windows +were not fastened. I accordingly went to see, and found that they were! +The fire perhaps needed attention. I went in to see, and found that it +was all right! I looked at the lamps, went upstairs into every bedroom +in turn, and then went round the house, and even into the ice-house. +Nothing was wrong; everything was in its place. Yet something _was_ +wrong! The conviction grew stronger and stronger within me. + +When I at length settled down to my books again and tried to read, I +became aware, for the first time, that the room seemed growing cold. Yet +the day had been oppressively warm, and evening had brought no relief. +The six big lamps, moreover, gave out heat enough to warm the room +pleasantly. But a chilliness, that perhaps crept up from the lake, made +itself felt in the room, and caused me to get up to close the glass door +opening on to the verandah. + +For a brief moment I stood looking out at the shaft of light that fell +from the windows and shone some little distance down the pathway, and +out for a few feet into the lake. + +As I looked, I saw a canoe glide into the pathway of light, and +immediately crossing it, pass out of sight again into the darkness. It +was perhaps a hundred feet from the shore, and it moved swiftly. + +I was surprised that a canoe should pass the island at that time of +night, for all the summer visitors from the other side of the lake had +gone home weeks before, and the island was a long way out of any line of +water traffic. + +My reading from this moment did not make very good progress, for somehow +the picture of that canoe, gliding so dimly and swiftly across the +narrow track of light on the black waters, silhouetted itself against +the background of my mind with singular vividness. It kept coming +between my eyes and the printed page. The more I thought about it the +more surprised I became. It was of larger build than any I had seen +during the past summer months, and was more like the old Indian war +canoes with the high curving bows and stern and wide beam. The more I +tried to read, the less success attended my efforts; and finally I +closed my books and went out on the verandah to walk up and down a bit, +and shake the chilliness out of my bones. + +The night was perfectly still, and as dark as imaginable. I stumbled +down the path to the little landing wharf, where the water made the very +faintest of gurgling under the timbers. The sound of a big tree falling +in the mainland forest, far across the lake, stirred echoes in the heavy +air, like the first guns of a distant night attack. No other sound +disturbed the stillness that reigned supreme. + +As I stood upon the wharf in the broad splash of light that followed me +from the sitting-room windows, I saw another canoe cross the pathway of +uncertain light upon the water, and disappear at once into the +impenetrable gloom that lay beyond. This time I saw more distinctly than +before. It was like the former canoe, a big birch-bark, with +high-crested bows and stern and broad beam. It was paddled by two +Indians, of whom the one in the stern--the steerer--appeared to be a +very large man. I could see this very plainly; and though the second +canoe was much nearer the island than the first, I judged that they were +both on their way home to the Government Reservation, which was situated +some fifteen miles away upon the mainland. + +I was wondering in my mind what could possibly bring any Indians down to +this part of the lake at such an hour of the night, when a third canoe, +of precisely similar build, and also occupied by two Indians, passed +silently round the end of the wharf. This time the canoe was very much +nearer shore, and it suddenly flashed into my mind that the three canoes +were in reality one and the same, and that only one canoe was circling +the island! + +This was by no means a pleasant reflection, because, if it were the +correct solution of the unusual appearance of the three canoes in this +lonely part of the lake at so late an hour, the purpose of the two men +could only reasonably be considered to be in some way connected with +myself. I had never known of the Indians attempting any violence upon +the settlers who shared the wild, inhospitable country with them; at the +same time, it was not beyond the region of possibility to suppose. . . . +But then I did not care even to think of such hideous possibilities, and +my imagination immediately sought relief in all manner of other +solutions to the problem, which indeed came readily enough to my mind, +but did not succeed in recommending themselves to my reason. + +Meanwhile, by a sort of instinct, I stepped back out of the bright light +in which I had hitherto been standing, and waited in the deep shadow of +a rock to see if the canoe would again make its appearance. Here I could +see, without being seen, and the precaution seemed a wise one. + +After less than five minutes the canoe, as I had anticipated, made its +fourth appearance. This time it was not twenty yards from the wharf, and +I saw that the Indians meant to land. I recognised the two men as those +who had passed before, and the steerer was certainly an immense fellow. +It was unquestionably the same canoe. There could be no longer any doubt +that for some purpose of their own the men had been going round and +round the island for some time, waiting for an opportunity to land. I +strained my eyes to follow them in the darkness, but the night had +completely swallowed them up, and not even the faintest swish of the +paddles reached my ears as the Indians plied their long and powerful +strokes. The canoe would be round again in a few moments, and this time +it was possible that the men might land. It was well to be prepared. I +knew nothing of their intentions, and two to one (when the two are big +Indians!) late at night on a lonely island was not exactly my idea of +pleasant intercourse. + +In a corner of the sitting-room, leaning up against the back wall, stood +my Marlin rifle, with ten cartridges in the magazine and one lying +snugly in the greased breech. There was just time to get up to the house +and take up a position of defence in that corner. Without an instant's +hesitation I ran up to the verandah, carefully picking my way among the +trees, so as to avoid being seen in the light. Entering the room, I shut +the door leading to the verandah, and as quickly as possible turned out +every one of the six lamps. To be in a room so brilliantly lighted, +where my every movement could be observed from outside, while I could +see nothing but impenetrable darkness at every window, was by all laws +of warfare an unnecessary concession to the enemy. And this enemy, if +enemy it was to be, was far too wily and dangerous to be granted any +such advantages. + +I stood in the corner of the room with my back against the wall, and my +hand on the cold rifle-barrel. The table, covered with my books, lay +between me and the door, but for the first few minutes after the lights +were out the darkness was so intense that nothing could be discerned at +all. Then, very gradually, the outline of the room became visible, and +the framework of the windows began to shape itself dimly before my eyes. + +After a few minutes the door (its upper half of glass), and the two +windows that looked out upon the front verandah, became specially +distinct; and I was glad that this was so, because if the Indians came +up to the house I should be able to see their approach, and gather +something of their plans. Nor was I mistaken, for there presently came +to my ears the peculiar hollow sound of a canoe landing and being +carefully dragged up over the rocks. The paddles I distinctly heard +being placed underneath, and the silence that ensued thereupon I rightly +interpreted to mean that the Indians were stealthily approaching the +house. . . . + +While it would be absurd to claim that I was not alarmed--even +frightened--at the gravity of the situation and its possible outcome, I +speak the whole truth when I say that I was not overwhelmingly afraid +for myself. I was conscious that even at this stage of the night I was +passing into a psychical condition in which my sensations seemed no +longer normal. Physical fear at no time entered into the nature of my +feelings; and though I kept my hand upon my rifle the greater part of +the night, I was all the time conscious that its assistance could be of +little avail against the terrors that I had to face. More than once I +seemed to feel most curiously that I was in no real sense a part of the +proceedings, nor actually involved in them, but that I was playing the +part of a spectator--a spectator, moreover, on a psychic rather than on +a material plane. Many of my sensations that night were too vague for +definite description and analysis, but the main feeling that will stay +with me to the end of my days is the awful horror of it all, and the +miserable sensation that if the strain had lasted a little longer than +was actually the case my mind must inevitably have given way. + +Meanwhile I stood still in my corner, and waited patiently for what was +to come. The house was as still as the grave, but the inarticulate +voices of the night sang in my ears, and I seemed to hear the blood +running in my veins and dancing in my pulses. + +If the Indians came to the back of the house, they would find the +kitchen door and window securely fastened. They could not get in there +without making considerable noise, which I was bound to hear. The only +mode of getting in was by means of the door that faced me, and I kept my +eyes glued on that door without taking them off for the smallest +fraction of a second. + +My sight adapted itself every minute better to the darkness. I saw the +table that nearly filled the room, and left only a narrow passage on +each side. I could also make out the straight backs of the wooden chairs +pressed up against it, and could even distinguish my papers and inkstand +lying on the white oilcloth covering. I thought of the gay faces that +had gathered round that table during the summer, and I longed for the +sunlight as I had never longed for it before. + +Less than three feet to my left the passage-way led to the kitchen, and +the stairs leading to the bedrooms above commenced in this passage-way, +but almost in the sitting-room itself. Through the windows I could see +the dim motionless outlines of the trees: not a leaf stirred, not a +branch moved. + +A few moments of this awful silence, and then I was aware of a soft +tread on the boards of the verandah, so stealthy that it seemed an +impression directly on my brain rather than upon the nerves of hearing. +Immediately afterwards a black figure darkened the glass door, and I +perceived that a face was pressed against the upper panes. A shiver ran +down my back, and my hair was conscious of a tendency to rise and stand +at right angles to my head. + +It was the figure of an Indian, broad-shouldered and immense; indeed, +the largest figure of a man I have ever seen outside of a circus hall. +By some power of light that seemed to generate itself in the brain, I +saw the strong dark face with the aquiline nose and high cheek-bones +flattened against the glass. The direction of the gaze I could not +determine; but faint gleams of light as the big eyes rolled round and +showed their whites, told me plainly that no corner of the room escaped +their searching. + +For what seemed fully five minutes the dark figure stood there, with the +huge shoulders bent forward so as to bring the head down to the level of +the glass; while behind him, though not nearly so large, the shadowy +form of the other Indian swayed to and fro like a bent tree. While I +waited in an agony of suspense and agitation for their next movement +little currents of icy sensation ran up and down my spine and my heart +seemed alternately to stop beating and then start off again with +terrifying rapidity. They must have heard its thumping and the singing +of the blood in my head! Moreover, I was conscious, as I felt a cold +stream of perspiration trickle down my face, of a desire to scream, to +shout, to bang the walls like a child, to make a noise, or do anything +that would relieve the suspense and bring things to a speedy climax. + +It was probably this inclination that led me to another discovery, for +when I tried to bring my rifle from behind my back to raise it and have +it pointed at the door ready to fire, I found that I was powerless to +move. The muscles, paralysed by this strange fear, refused to obey the +will. Here indeed was a terrifying complication! + + * * * * * + +There was a faint sound of rattling at the brass knob, and the door was +pushed open a couple of inches. A pause of a few seconds, and it was +pushed open still further. Without a sound of footsteps that was +appreciable to my ears, the two figures glided into the room, and the +man behind gently closed the door after him. + +They were alone with me between the four walls. Could they see me +standing there, so still and straight in my corner? Had they, perhaps, +already seen me? My blood surged and sang like the roll of drums in an +orchestra; and though I did my best to suppress my breathing, it sounded +like the rushing of wind through a pneumatic tube. + +My suspense as to the next move was soon at an end--only, however, to +give place to a new and keener alarm. The men had hitherto exchanged no +words and no signs, but there were general indications of a movement +across the room, and whichever way they went they would have to pass +round the table. If they came my way they would have to pass within six +inches of my person. While I was considering this very disagreeable +possibility, I perceived that the smaller Indian (smaller by comparison) +suddenly raised his arm and pointed to the ceiling. The other fellow +raised his head and followed the direction of his companion's arm. I +began to understand at last. They were going upstairs, and the room +directly overhead to which they pointed had been until this night my +bedroom. It was the room in which I had experienced that very morning so +strange a sensation of fear, and but for which I should then have been +lying asleep in the narrow bed against the window. + +The Indians then began to move silently around the room; they were going +upstairs, and they were coming round my side of the table. So stealthy +were their movements that, but for the abnormally sensitive state of the +nerves, I should never have heard them. As it was, their cat-like tread +was distinctly audible. Like two monstrous black cats they came round +the table toward me, and for the first time I perceived that the smaller +of the two dragged something along the floor behind him. As it trailed +along over the floor with a soft, sweeping sound, I somehow got the +impression that it was a large dead thing with outstretched wings, or a +large, spreading cedar branch. Whatever it was, I was unable to see it +even in outline, and I was too terrified, even had I possessed the power +over my muscles, to move my neck forward in the effort to determine its +nature. + +Nearer and nearer they came. The leader rested a giant hand upon the +table as he moved. My lips were glued together, and the air seemed to +burn in my nostrils. I tried to close my eyes, so that I might not see +as they passed me; but my eyelids had stiffened, and refused to obey. +Would they never get by me? Sensation seemed also to have left my legs, +and it was as if I were standing on mere supports of wood or stone. +Worse still, I was conscious that I was losing the power of balance, the +power to stand upright, or even to lean backwards against the wall. Some +force was drawing me forward, and a dizzy terror seized me that I should +lose my balance, and topple forward against the Indians just as they +were in the act of passing me. + +Even moments drawn out into hours must come to an end some time, and +almost before I knew it the figures had passed me and had their feet +upon the lower step of the stairs leading to the upper bedrooms. There +could not have been six inches between us, and yet I was conscious only +of a current of cold air that followed them. They had not touched me, +and I was convinced that they had not seen me. Even the trailing thing +on the floor behind them had not touched my feet, as I had dreaded it +would, and on such an occasion as this I was grateful even for the +smallest mercies. + +The absence of the Indians from my immediate neighbourhood brought +little sense of relief. I stood shivering and shuddering in my corner, +and, beyond being able to breathe more freely, I felt no whit less +uncomfortable. Also, I was aware that a certain light, which, without +apparent source or rays, had enabled me to follow their every gesture +and movement, had gone out of the room with their departure. An +unnatural darkness now filled the room, and pervaded its every corner so +that I could barely make out the positions of the windows and the glass +doors. + +As I said before, my condition was evidently an abnormal one. The +capacity for feeling surprise seemed, as in dreams, to be wholly absent. +My senses recorded with unusual accuracy every smallest occurrence, but +I was able to draw only the simplest deductions. + +The Indians soon reached the top of the stairs, and there they halted +for a moment. I had not the faintest clue as to their next movement. +They appeared to hesitate. They were listening attentively. Then I heard +one of them, who by the weight of his soft tread must have been the +giant, cross the narrow corridor and enter the room directly +overhead--my own little bedroom. But for the insistence of that +unaccountable dread I had experienced there in the morning, I should at +that very moment have been lying in the bed with the big Indian in the +room standing beside me. + +For the space of a hundred seconds there was silence, such as might +have existed before the birth of sound. It was followed by a long +quivering shriek of terror, which rang out into the night, and ended in +a short gulp before it had run its full course. At the same moment the +other Indian left his place at the head of the stairs, and joined his +companion in the bedroom. I heard the "thing" trailing behind him along +the floor. A thud followed, as of something heavy falling, and then all +became as still and silent as before. + +It was at this point that the atmosphere, surcharged all day with the +electricity of a fierce storm, found relief in a dancing flash of +brilliant lightning simultaneously with a crash of loudest thunder. For +five seconds every article in the room was visible to me with amazing +distinctness, and through the windows I saw the tree trunks standing in +solemn rows. The thunder pealed and echoed across the lake and among the +distant islands, and the flood-gates of heaven then opened and let out +their rain in streaming torrents. + +The drops fell with a swift rushing sound upon the still waters of the +lake, which leaped up to meet them, and pattered with the rattle of shot +on the leaves of the maples and the roof of the cottage. A moment later, +and another flash, even more brilliant and of longer duration than the +first, lit up the sky from zenith to horizon, and bathed the room +momentarily in dazzling whiteness. I could see the rain glistening on +the leaves and branches outside. The wind rose suddenly, and in less +than a minute the storm that had been gathering all day burst forth in +its full fury. + +Above all the noisy voices of the elements, the slightest sounds in the +room overhead made themselves heard, and in the few seconds of deep +silence that followed the shriek of terror and pain I was aware that the +movements had commenced again. The men were leaving the room and +approaching the top of the stairs. A short pause, and they began to +descend. Behind them, tumbling from step to step, I could hear that +trailing "thing" being dragged along. It had become ponderous! + +I awaited their approach with a degree of calmness, almost of apathy, +which was only explicable on the ground that after a certain point +Nature applies her own anæsthetic, and a merciful condition of numbness +supervenes. On they came, step by step, nearer and nearer, with the +shuffling sound of the burden behind growing louder as they approached. + +They were already half-way down the stairs when I was galvanised afresh +into a condition of terror by the consideration of a new and horrible +possibility. It was the reflection that if another vivid flash of +lightning were to come when the shadowy procession was in the room, +perhaps when it was actually passing in front of me, I should see +everything in detail, and worse, be seen myself! I could only hold my +breath and wait--wait while the minutes lengthened into hours, and the +procession made its slow progress round the room. + +The Indians had reached the foot of the staircase. The form of the huge +leader loomed in the doorway of the passage, and the burden with an +ominous thud had dropped from the last step to the floor. There was a +moment's pause while I saw the Indian turn and stoop to assist his +companion. Then the procession moved forward again, entered the room +close on my left, and began to move slowly round my side of the table. +The leader was already beyond me, and his companion, dragging on the +floor behind him the burden, whose confused outline I could dimly make +out, was exactly in front of me, when the cavalcade came to a dead halt. +At the same moment, with the strange suddenness of thunderstorms, the +splash of the rain ceased altogether, and the wind died away into utter +silence. + +For the space of five seconds my heart seemed to stop beating, and then +the worst came. A double flash of lightning lit up the room and its +contents with merciless vividness. + +The huge Indian leader stood a few feet past me on my right. One leg was +stretched forward in the act of taking a step. His immense shoulders +were turned toward his companion, and in all their magnificent +fierceness I saw the outline of his features. His gaze was directed upon +the burden his companion was dragging along the floor; but his profile, +with the big aquiline nose, high cheek-bone, straight black hair and +bold chin, burnt itself in that brief instant into my brain, never again +to fade. + +Dwarfish, compared with this gigantic figure, appeared the proportions +of the other Indian, who, within twelve inches of my face, was stooping +over the thing he was dragging in a position that lent to his person the +additional horror of deformity. And the burden, lying upon a sweeping +cedar branch which he held and dragged by a long stem, was the body of a +white man. The scalp had been neatly lifted, and blood lay in a broad +smear upon the cheeks and forehead. + +Then, for the first time that night, the terror that had paralysed my +muscles and my will lifted its unholy spell from my soul. With a loud +cry I stretched out my arms to seize the big Indian by the throat, and, +grasping only air, tumbled forward unconscious upon the ground. + +I had recognised the body, and _the face was my own_! . . . + +It was bright daylight when a man's voice recalled me to consciousness. +I was lying where I had fallen, and the farmer was standing in the room +with the loaves of bread in his hands. The horror of the night was still +in my heart, and as the bluff settler helped me to my feet and picked up +the rifle which had fallen with me, with many questions and expressions +of condolence, I imagine my brief replies were neither self-explanatory +nor even intelligible. + +That day, after a thorough and fruitless search of the house, I left the +island, and went over to spend my last ten days with the farmer; and +when the time came for me to leave, the necessary reading had been +accomplished, and my nerves had completely recovered their balance. + +On the day of my departure the farmer started early in his big boat with +my belongings to row to the point, twelve miles distant, where a little +steamer ran twice a week for the accommodation of hunters. Late in the +afternoon I went off in another direction in my canoe, wishing to see +the island once again, where I had been the victim of so strange an +experience. + +In due course I arrived there, and made a tour of the island. I also +made a search of the little house, and it was not without a curious +sensation in my heart that I entered the little upstairs bedroom. There +seemed nothing unusual. + +Just after I re-embarked, I saw a canoe gliding ahead of me around the +curve of the island. A canoe was an unusual sight at this time of the +year, and this one seemed to have sprung from nowhere. Altering my +course a little, I watched it disappear around the next projecting point +of rock. It had high curving bows, and there were two Indians in it. I +lingered with some excitement, to see if it would appear again round the +other side of the island; and in less than five minutes it came into +view. There were less than two hundred yards between us, and the +Indians, sitting on their haunches, were paddling swiftly in my +direction. + +I never paddled faster in my life than I did in those next few minutes. +When I turned to look again, the Indians had altered their course, and +were again circling the island. + +The sun was sinking behind the forests on the mainland, and the +crimson-coloured clouds of sunset were reflected in the waters of the +lake, when I looked round for the last time, and saw the big bark canoe +and its two dusky occupants still going round the island. Then the +shadows deepened rapidly; the lake grew black, and the night wind blew +its first breath in my face as I turned a corner, and a projecting bluff +of rock hid from my view both island and canoe. + + + + +A CASE OF EAVESDROPPING + + +Jim Shorthouse was the sort of fellow who always made a mess of things. +Everything with which his hands or mind came into contact issued from +such contact in an unqualified and irremediable state of mess. His +college days were a mess: he was twice rusticated. His schooldays were a +mess: he went to half a dozen, each passing him on to the next with a +worse character and in a more developed state of mess. His early boyhood +was the sort of mess that copy-books and dictionaries spell with a big +"M," and his babyhood--ugh! was the embodiment of howling, yowling, +screaming mess. + +At the age of forty, however, there came a change in his troubled life, +when he met a girl with half a million in her own right, who consented +to marry him, and who very soon succeeded in reducing his most messy +existence into a state of comparative order and system. + +Certain incidents, important and otherwise, of Jim's life would never +have come to be told here but for the fact that in getting into his +"messes" and out of them again he succeeded in drawing himself into the +atmosphere of peculiar circumstances and strange happenings. He +attracted to his path the curious adventures of life as unfailingly as +meat attracts flies, and jam wasps. It is to the meat and jam of his +life, so to speak, that he owes his experiences; his after-life was all +pudding, which attracts nothing but greedy children. With marriage the +interest of his life ceased for all but one person, and his path became +regular as the sun's instead of erratic as a comet's. + +The first experience in order of time that he related to me shows that +somewhere latent behind his disarranged nervous system there lay psychic +perceptions of an uncommon order. About the age of twenty-two--I think +after his second rustication--his father's purse and patience had +equally given out, and Jim found himself stranded high and dry in a +large American city. High and dry! And the only clothes that had no +holes in them safely in the keeping of his uncle's wardrobe. + +Careful reflection on a bench in one of the city parks led him to the +conclusion that the only thing to do was to persuade the city editor of +one of the daily journals that he possessed an observant mind and a +ready pen, and that he could "do good work for your paper, sir, as a +reporter." This, then, he did, standing at a most unnatural angle +between the editor and the window to conceal the whereabouts of the +holes. + +"Guess we'll have to give you a week's trial," said the editor, who, +ever on the lookout for good chance material, took on shoals of men in +that way and retained on the average one man per shoal. Anyhow it gave +Jim Shorthouse the wherewithal to sew up the holes and relieve his +uncle's wardrobe of its burden. + +Then he went to find living quarters; and in this proceeding his unique +characteristics already referred to--what theosophists would call his +Karma--began unmistakably to assert themselves, for it was in the house +he eventually selected that this sad tale took place. + +There are no "diggings" in American cities. The alternatives for small +incomes are grim enough--rooms in a boarding-house where meals are +served, or in a room-house where no meals are served--not even +breakfast. Rich people live in palaces, of course, but Jim had nothing +to do with "sich-like." His horizon was bounded by boarding-houses and +room-houses; and, owing to the necessary irregularity of his meals and +hours, he took the latter. + +It was a large, gaunt-looking place in a side street, with dirty windows +and a creaking iron gate, but the rooms were large, and the one he +selected and paid for in advance was on the top floor. The landlady +looked gaunt and dusty as the house, and quite as old. Her eyes were +green and faded, and her features large. + +"Waal," she twanged, with her electrifying Western drawl, "that's the +room, if you like it, and that's the price I said. Now, if you want it, +why, just say so; and if you don't, why, it don't hurt me any." + +Jim wanted to shake her, but he feared the clouds of long-accumulated +dust in her clothes, and as the price and size of the room suited him, +he decided to take it. + +"Anyone else on this floor?" he asked. + +She looked at him queerly out of her faded eyes before she answered. + +"None of my guests ever put such questions to me before," she said; "but +I guess you're different. Why, there's no one at all but an old gent +that's stayed here every bit of five years. He's over thar," pointing +to the end of the passage. + +"Ah! I see," said Shorthouse feebly. "So I'm alone up here?" + +"Reckon you are, pretty near," she twanged out, ending the conversation +abruptly by turning her back on her new "guest," and going slowly and +deliberately downstairs. + +The newspaper work kept Shorthouse out most of the night. Three times a +week he got home at 1 a.m., and three times at 3 a.m. The room proved +comfortable enough, and he paid for a second week. His unusual hours had +so far prevented his meeting any inmates of the house, and not a sound +had been heard from the "old gent" who shared the floor with him. It +seemed a very quiet house. + +One night, about the middle of the second week, he came home tired after +a long day's work. The lamp that usually stood all night in the hall had +burned itself out, and he had to stumble upstairs in the dark. He made +considerable noise in doing so, but nobody seemed to be disturbed. The +whole house was utterly quiet, and probably everybody was asleep. There +were no lights under any of the doors. All was in darkness. It was after +two o'clock. + +After reading some English letters that had come during the day, and +dipping for a few minutes into a book, he became drowsy and got ready +for bed. Just as he was about to get in between the sheets, he stopped +for a moment and listened. There rose in the night, as he did so, the +sound of steps somewhere in the house below. Listening attentively, he +heard that it was somebody coming upstairs--a heavy tread, and the owner +taking no pains to step quietly. On it came up the stairs, tramp, tramp, +tramp--evidently the tread of a big man, and one in something of a +hurry. + +At once thoughts connected somehow with fire and police flashed through +Jim's brain, but there were no sounds of voices with the steps, and he +reflected in the same moment that it could only be the old gentleman +keeping late hours and tumbling upstairs in the darkness. He was in the +act of turning out the gas and stepping into bed, when the house resumed +its former stillness by the footsteps suddenly coming to a dead stop +immediately outside his own room. + +With his hand on the gas, Shorthouse paused a moment before turning it +out to see if the steps would go on again, when he was startled by a +loud knocking on his door. Instantly, in obedience to a curious and +unexplained instinct, he turned out the light, leaving himself and the +room in total darkness. + +He had scarcely taken a step across the room to open the door, when a +voice from the other side of the wall, so close it almost sounded in his +ear, exclaimed in German, "Is that you, father? Come in." + +The speaker was a man in the next room, and the knocking, after all, had +not been on his own door, but on that of the adjoining chamber, which he +had supposed to be vacant. + +Almost before the man in the passage had time to answer in German, "Let +me in at once," Jim heard someone cross the floor and unlock the door. +Then it was slammed to with a bang, and there was audible the sound of +footsteps about the room, and of chairs being drawn up to a table and +knocking against furniture on the way. The men seemed wholly regardless +of their neighbour's comfort, for they made noise enough to waken the +dead. + +"Serves me right for taking a room in such a cheap hole," reflected Jim +in the darkness. "I wonder whom she's let the room to!" + +The two rooms, the landlady had told him, were originally one. She had +put up a thin partition--just a row of boards--to increase her income. +The doors were adjacent, and only separated by the massive upright beam +between them. When one was opened or shut the other rattled. + +With utter indifference to the comfort of the other sleepers in the +house, the two Germans had meanwhile commenced to talk both at once and +at the top of their voices. They talked emphatically, even angrily. The +words "Father" and "Otto" were freely used. Shorthouse understood +German, but as he stood listening for the first minute or two, an +eavesdropper in spite of himself, it was difficult to make head or tail +of the talk, for neither would give way to the other, and the jumble of +guttural sounds and unfinished sentences was wholly unintelligible. +Then, very suddenly, both voices dropped together; and, after a moment's +pause, the deep tones of one of them, who seemed to be the "father," +said, with the utmost distinctness-- + +"You mean, Otto, that you refuse to get it?" + +There was a sound of someone shuffling in the chair before the answer +came. "I mean that I don't know how to get it. It is so much, father. It +is _too_ much. A part of it--" + +"A part of it!" cried the other, with an angry oath, "a part of it, when +ruin and disgrace are already in the house, is worse than useless. If +you can get half you can get all, you wretched fool. Half-measures only +damn all concerned." + +"You told me last time--" began the other firmly, but was not allowed to +finish. A succession of horrible oaths drowned his sentence, and the +father went on, in a voice vibrating with anger-- + +"You know she will give you anything. You have only been married a few +months. If you ask and give a plausible reason you can get all we want +and more. You can ask it temporarily. All will be paid back. It will +re-establish the firm, and she will never know what was done with it. +With that amount, Otto, you know I can recoup all these terrible losses, +and in less than a year all will be repaid. But without it. . . . You must +get it, Otto. Hear me, you must. Am I to be arrested for the misuse of +trust moneys? Is our honoured name to be cursed and spat on?" The old +man choked and stammered in his anger and desperation. + +Shorthouse stood shivering in the darkness and listening in spite of +himself. The conversation had carried him along with it, and he had been +for some reason afraid to let his neighbourhood be known. But at this +point he realised that he had listened too long and that he must inform +the two men that they could be overheard to every single syllable. So he +coughed loudly, and at the same time rattled the handle of his door. It +seemed to have no effect, for the voices continued just as loudly as +before, the son protesting and the father growing more and more angry. +He coughed again persistently, and also contrived purposely in the +darkness to tumble against the partition, feeling the thin boards yield +easily under his weight, and making a considerable noise in so doing. +But the voices went on unconcernedly, and louder than ever. Could it be +possible they had not heard? + +By this time Jim was more concerned about his own sleep than the +morality of overhearing the private scandals of his neighbours, and he +went out into the passage and knocked smartly at their door. Instantly, +as if by magic, the sounds ceased. Everything dropped into utter +silence. There was no light under the door and not a whisper could be +heard within. He knocked again, but received no answer. + +"Gentlemen," he began at length, with his lips close to the keyhole and +in German, "please do not talk so loud. I can overhear all you say in +the next room. Besides, it is very late, and I wish to sleep." + +He paused and listened, but no answer was forthcoming. He turned the +handle and found the door was locked. Not a sound broke the stillness of +the night except the faint swish of the wind over the skylight and the +creaking of a board here and there in the house below. The cold air of a +very early morning crept down the passage, and made him shiver. The +silence of the house began to impress him disagreeably. He looked behind +him and about him, hoping, and yet fearing, that something would break +the stillness. The voices still seemed to ring on in his ears; but that +sudden silence, when he knocked at the door, affected him far more +unpleasantly than the voices, and put strange thoughts in his +brain--thoughts he did not like or approve. + +Moving stealthily from the door, he peered over the banisters into the +space below. It was like a deep vault that might conceal in its shadows +anything that was not good. It was not difficult to fancy he saw an +indistinct moving to-and-fro below him. Was that a figure sitting on the +stairs peering up obliquely at him out of hideous eyes? Was that a sound +of whispering and shuffling down there in the dark halls and forsaken +landings? Was it something more than the inarticulate murmur of the +night? + +The wind made an effort overhead, singing over the skylight, and the +door behind him rattled and made him start. He turned to go back to his +room, and the draught closed the door slowly in his face as if there +were someone pressing against it from the other side. When he pushed it +open and went in, a hundred shadowy forms seemed to dart swiftly and +silently back to their corners and hiding-places. But in the adjoining +room the sounds had entirely ceased, and Shorthouse soon crept into bed, +and left the house with its inmates, waking or sleeping, to take care of +themselves, while he entered the region of dreams and silence. + +Next day, strong in the common sense that the sunlight brings, he +determined to lodge a complaint against the noisy occupants of the next +room and make the landlady request them to modify their voices at such +late hours of the night and morning. But it so happened that she was not +to be seen that day, and when he returned from the office at midnight it +was, of course, too late. + +Looking under the door as he came up to bed he noticed that there was no +light, and concluded that the Germans were not in. So much the better. +He went to sleep about one o'clock, fully decided that if they came up +later and woke him with their horrible noises he would not rest till he +had roused the landlady and made her reprove them with that +authoritative twang, in which every word was like the lash of a metallic +whip. + +However, there proved to be no need for such drastic measures, for +Shorthouse slumbered peacefully all night, and his dreams--chiefly of +the fields of grain and flocks of sheep on the far-away farms of his +father's estate--were permitted to run their fanciful course unbroken. + +Two nights later, however, when he came home tired out, after a +difficult day, and wet and blown about by one of the wickedest storms he +had ever seen, his dreams--always of the fields and sheep--were not +destined to be so undisturbed. + +He had already dozed off in that delicious glow that follows the removal +of wet clothes and the immediate snuggling under warm blankets, when his +consciousness, hovering on the borderland between sleep and waking, was +vaguely troubled by a sound that rose indistinctly from the depths of +the house, and, between the gusts of wind and rain, reached his ears +with an accompanying sense of uneasiness and discomfort. It rose on the +night air with some pretence of regularity, dying away again in the roar +of the wind to reassert itself distantly in the deep, brief hushes of +the storm. + +For a few minutes Jim's dreams were coloured only--tinged, as it were, +by this impression of fear approaching from somewhere insensibly upon +him. His consciousness, at first, refused to be drawn back from that +enchanted region where it had wandered, and he did not immediately +awaken. But the nature of his dreams changed unpleasantly. He saw the +sheep suddenly run huddled together, as though frightened by the +neighbourhood of an enemy, while the fields of waving corn became +agitated as though some monster were moving uncouthly among the crowded +stalks. The sky grew dark, and in his dream an awful sound came +somewhere from the clouds. It was in reality the sound downstairs +growing more distinct. + +Shorthouse shifted uneasily across the bed with something like a groan +of distress. The next minute he awoke, and found himself sitting +straight up in bed--listening. Was it a nightmare? Had he been dreaming +evil dreams, that his flesh crawled and the hair stirred on his head? + +The room was dark and silent, but outside the wind howled dismally and +drove the rain with repeated assaults against the rattling windows. How +nice it would be--the thought flashed through his mind--if all winds, +like the west wind, went down with the sun! They made such fiendish +noises at night, like the crying of angry voices. In the daytime they +had such a different sound. If only-- + +Hark! It was no dream after all, for the sound was momentarily growing +louder, and its _cause_ was coming up the stairs. He found himself +speculating feebly what this cause might be, but the sound was still too +indistinct to enable him to arrive at any definite conclusion. + +The voice of a church clock striking two made itself heard above the +wind. It was just about the hour when the Germans had commenced their +performance three nights before. Shorthouse made up his mind that if +they began it again he would not put up with it for very long. Yet he +was already horribly conscious of the difficulty he would have of +getting out of bed. The clothes were so warm and comforting against his +back. The sound, still steadily coming nearer, had by this time become +differentiated from the confused clamour of the elements, and had +resolved itself into the footsteps of one or more persons. + +"The Germans, hang 'em!" thought Jim. "But what on earth is the matter +with me? I never felt so queer in all my life." + +He was trembling all over, and felt as cold as though he were in a +freezing atmosphere. His nerves were steady enough, and he felt no +diminution of physical courage, but he was conscious of a curious sense +of malaise and trepidation, such as even the most vigorous men have been +known to experience when in the first grip of some horrible and deadly +disease. As the footsteps approached this feeling of weakness increased. +He felt a strange lassitude creeping over him, a sort of exhaustion, +accompanied by a growing numbness in the extremities, and a sensation of +dreaminess in the head, as if perhaps the consciousness were leaving its +accustomed seat in the brain and preparing to act on another plane. Yet, +strange to say, as the vitality was slowly withdrawn from his body, his +senses seemed to grow more acute. + +Meanwhile the steps were already on the landing at the top of the +stairs, and Shorthouse, still sitting upright in bed, heard a heavy body +brush past his door and along the wall outside, almost immediately +afterwards the loud knocking of someone's knuckles on the door of the +adjoining room. + +Instantly, though so far not a sound had proceeded from within, he +heard, through the thin partition, a chair pushed back and a man quickly +cross the floor and open the door. + +"Ah! it's you," he heard in the son's voice. Had the fellow, then, been +sitting silently in there all this time, waiting for his father's +arrival? To Shorthouse it came not as a pleasant reflection by any +means. + +There was no answer to this dubious greeting, but the door was closed +quickly, and then there was a sound as if a bag or parcel had been +thrown on a wooden table and had slid some distance across it before +stopping. + +"What's that?" asked the son, with anxiety in his tone. + +"You may know before I go," returned the other gruffly. Indeed his voice +was more than gruff: it betrayed ill-suppressed passion. + +Shorthouse was conscious of a strong desire to stop the conversation +before it proceeded any further, but somehow or other his will was not +equal to the task, and he could not get out of bed. The conversation +went on, every tone and inflexion distinctly audible above the noise of +the storm. + +In a low voice the father continued. Jim missed some of the words at the +beginning of the sentence. It ended with: " . . . but now they've all left, +and I've managed to get up to you. You know what I've come for." There +was distinct menace in his tone. + +"Yes," returned the other; "I have been waiting." + +"And the money?" asked the father impatiently. + +No answer. + +"You've had three days to get it in, and I've contrived to stave off the +worst so far--but to-morrow is the end." + +No answer. + +"Speak, Otto! What have you got for me? Speak, my son; for God's sake, +tell me." + +There was a moment's silence, during which the old man's vibrating +accents seemed to echo through the rooms. Then came in a low voice the +answer-- + +"I have nothing." + +"Otto!" cried the other with passion, "nothing!" + +"I can get nothing," came almost in a whisper. + +"You lie!" cried the other, in a half-stifled voice. "I swear you lie. +Give me the money." + +A chair was heard scraping along the floor. Evidently the men had been +sitting over the table, and one of them had risen. Shorthouse heard the +bag or parcel drawn across the table, and then a step as if one of the +men was crossing to the door. + +"Father, what's in that? I must know," said Otto, with the first signs +of determination in his voice. There must have been an effort on the +son's part to gain possession of the parcel in question, and on the +father's to retain it, for between them it fell to the ground. A curious +rattle followed its contact with the floor. Instantly there were sounds +of a scuffle. The men were struggling for the possession of the box. The +elder man with oaths, and blasphemous imprecations, the other with short +gasps that betokened the strength of his efforts. It was of short +duration, and the younger man had evidently won, for a minute later was +heard his angry exclamation. + +"I knew it. Her jewels! You scoundrel, you shall never have them. It is +a crime." + +The elder man uttered a short, guttural laugh, which froze Jim's blood +and made his skin creep. No word was spoken, and for the space of ten +seconds there was a living silence. Then the air trembled with the sound +of a thud, followed immediately by a groan and the crash of a heavy body +falling over on to the table. A second later there was a lurching from +the table on to the floor and against the partition that separated the +rooms. The bed quivered an instant at the shock, but the unholy spell +was lifted from his soul and Jim Shorthouse sprang out of bed and across +the floor in a single bound. He knew that ghastly murder had been +done--the murder by a father of his son. + +With shaking fingers but a determined heart he lit the gas, and the +first thing in which his eyes corroborated the evidence of his ears was +the horrifying detail that the lower portion of the partition bulged +unnaturally into his own room. The glaring paper with which it was +covered had cracked under the tension and the boards beneath it bent +inwards towards him. What hideous load was behind them, he shuddered to +think. + +All this he saw in less than a second. Since the final lurch against the +wall not a sound had proceeded from the room, not even a groan or a +foot-step. All was still but the howl of the wind, which to his ears +had in it a note of triumphant horror. + +Shorthouse was in the act of leaving the room to rouse the house and +send for the police--in fact his hand was already on the door-knob--when +something in the room arrested his attention. Out of the corner of his +eyes he thought he caught sight of something moving. He was sure of it, +and turning his eyes in the direction, he found he was not mistaken. + +Something was creeping slowly towards him along the floor. It was +something dark and serpentine in shape, and it came from the place where +the partition bulged. He stooped down to examine it with feelings of +intense horror and repugnance, and he discovered that it was moving +toward him from the _other side_ of the wall. His eyes were fascinated, +and for the moment he was unable to move. Silently, slowly, from side to +side like a thick worm, it crawled forward into the room beneath his +frightened eyes, until at length he could stand it no longer and +stretched out his arm to touch it. But at the instant of contact he +withdrew his hand with a suppressed scream. It was sluggish--and it was +warm! and he saw that his fingers were stained with living crimson. + +A second more, and Shorthouse was out in the passage with his hand on +the door of the next room. It was locked. He plunged forward with all +his weight against it, and, the lock giving way, he fell headlong into a +room that was pitch dark and very cold. In a moment he was on his feet +again and trying to penetrate the blackness. Not a sound, not a +movement. Not even the sense of a presence. It was empty, miserably +empty! + +Across the room he could trace the outline of a window with rain +streaming down the outside, and the blurred lights of the city beyond. +But the room was empty, appallingly empty; and so still. He stood there, +cold as ice, staring, shivering listening. Suddenly there was a step +behind him and a light flashed into the room, and when he turned quickly +with his arm up as if to ward off a terrific blow he found himself face +to face with the landlady. Instantly the reaction began to set in. + +It was nearly three o'clock in the morning, and he was standing there +with bare feet and striped pyjamas in a small room, which in the +merciful light he perceived to be absolutely empty, carpetless, and +without a stick of furniture, or even a window-blind. There he stood +staring at the disagreeable landlady. And there she stood too, staring +and silent, in a black wrapper, her head almost bald, her face white as +chalk, shading a sputtering candle with one bony hand and peering over +it at him with her blinking green eyes. She looked positively hideous. + +"Waal?" she drawled at length, "I heard yer right enough. Guess you +couldn't sleep! Or just prowlin' round a bit--is that it?" + +The empty room, the absence of all traces of the recent tragedy, the +silence, the hour, his striped pyjamas and bare feet--everything +together combined to deprive him momentarily of speech. He stared at her +blankly without a word. + +"Waal?" clanked the awful voice. + +"My dear woman," he burst out finally, "there's been something awful--" +So far his desperation took him, but no farther. He positively stuck at +the substantive. + +"Oh! there hasn't been nothin'," she said slowly still peering at him. +"I reckon you've only seen and heard what the others did. I never can +keep folks on this floor long. Most of 'em catch on sooner or +later--that is, the ones that's kind of quick and sensitive. Only you +being an Englishman I thought you wouldn't mind. Nothin' really happens; +it's only thinkin' like." + +Shorthouse was beside himself. He felt ready to pick her up and drop her +over the banisters, candle and all. + +"Look there," he said, pointing at her within an inch of her blinking +eyes with the fingers that had touched the oozing blood; "look there, my +good woman. Is that only thinking?" + +She stared a minute, as if not knowing what he meant. + +"I guess so," she said at length. + +He followed her eyes, and to his amazement saw that his fingers were as +white as usual, and quite free from the awful stain that had been there +ten minutes before. There was no sign of blood. No amount of staring +could bring it back. Had he gone out of his mind? Had his eyes and ears +played such tricks with him? Had his senses become false and perverted? +He dashed past the landlady, out into the passage, and gained his own +room in a couple of strides. Whew! . . . the partition no longer bulged. +The paper was not torn. There was no creeping, crawling thing on the +faded old carpet. + +"It's all over now," drawled the metallic voice behind him. "I'm going +to bed again." + +He turned and saw the landlady slowly going downstairs again, still +shading the candle with her hand and peering up at him from time to time +as she moved. A black, ugly, unwholesome object, he thought, as she +disappeared into the darkness below, and the last flicker of her candle +threw a queer-shaped shadow along the wall and over the ceiling. + +Without hesitating a moment, Shorthouse threw himself into his clothes +and went out of the house. He preferred the storm to the horrors of that +top floor, and he walked the streets till daylight. In the evening he +told the landlady he would leave next day, in spite of her assurances +that nothing more would happen. + +"It never comes back," she said--"that is, not after he's killed." + +Shorthouse gasped. + +"You gave me a lot for my money," he growled. + +"Waal, it aren't my show," she drawled. "I'm no spirit medium. You take +chances. Some'll sleep right along and never hear nothin'. Others, like +yourself, are different and get the whole thing." + +"Who's the old gentleman?--does he hear it?" asked Jim. + +"There's no old gentleman at all," she answered coolly. "I just told +you that to make you feel easy like in case you did hear anythin'. You +were all alone on the floor." + +"Say now," she went on, after a pause in which Shorthouse could think of +nothing to say but unpublishable things, "say now, do tell, did you feel +sort of cold when the show was on, sort of tired and weak, I mean, as if +you might be going to die?" + +"How can I say?" he answered savagely; "what I felt God only knows." + +"Waal, but He won't tell," she drawled out. "Only I was wonderin' how +you really did feel, because the man who had that room last was found +one morning in bed--" + +"In bed?" + +"He was dead. He was the one before you. Oh! You don't need to get +rattled so. You're all right. And it all really happened, they do say. +This house used to be a private residence some twenty-five years ago, +and a German family of the name of Steinhardt lived here. They had a big +business in Wall Street, and stood 'way up in things." + +"Ah!" said her listener. + +"Oh yes, they did, right at the top, till one fine day it all bust and +the old man skipped with the boodle--" + +"Skipped with the boodle?" + +"That's so," she said; "got clear away with all the money, and the son +was found dead in his house, committed soocide it was thought. Though +there was some as said he couldn't have stabbed himself and fallen in +that position. They said he was murdered. The father died in prison. +They tried to fasten the murder on him, but there was no motive, or no +evidence, or no somethin'. I forget now." + +"Very pretty," said Shorthouse. + +"I'll show you somethin' mighty queer any-ways," she drawled, "if you'll +come upstairs a minute. I've heard the steps and voices lots of times; +they don't pheaze me any. I'd just as lief hear so many dogs barkin'. +You'll find the whole story in the newspapers if you look it up--not +what goes on here, but the story of the Germans. My house would be +ruined if they told all, and I'd sue for damages." + +They reached the bedroom, and the woman went in and pulled up the edge +of the carpet where Shorthouse had seen the blood soaking in the +previous night. + +"Look thar, if you feel like it," said the old hag. Stooping down, he +saw a dark, dull stain in the boards that corresponded exactly to the +shape and position of the blood as he had seen it. + +That night he slept in a hotel, and the following day sought new +quarters. In the newspapers on file in his office after a long search he +found twenty years back the detailed story, substantially as the woman +had said, of Steinhardt & Co.'s failure, the absconding and subsequent +arrest of the senior partner, and the suicide, or murder, of his son +Otto. The landlady's room-house had formerly been their private +residence. + + + + +KEEPING HIS PROMISE + + +It was eleven o'clock at night, and young Marriott was locked into his +room, cramming as hard as he could cram. He was a "Fourth Year Man" at +Edinburgh University and he had been ploughed for this particular +examination so often that his parents had positively declared they could +no longer supply the funds to keep him there. + +His rooms were cheap and dingy, but it was the lecture fees that took +the money. So Marriott pulled himself together at last and definitely +made up his mind that he would pass or die in the attempt, and for some +weeks now he had been reading as hard as mortal man can read. He was +trying to make up for lost time and money in a way that showed +conclusively he did not understand the value of either. For no ordinary +man--and Marriott was in every sense an ordinary man--can afford to +drive the mind as he had lately been driving his, without sooner or +later paying the cost. + +Among the students he had few friends or acquaintances, and these few +had promised not to disturb him at night, knowing he was at last reading +in earnest. It was, therefore, with feelings a good deal stronger than +mere surprise that he heard his door-bell ring on this particular night +and realised that he was to have a visitor. Some men would simply have +muffled the bell and gone on quietly with their work. But Marriott was +not this sort. He was nervous. It would have bothered and pecked at his +mind all night long not to know who the visitor was and what he wanted. +The only thing to do, therefore, was to let him in--and out again--as +quickly as possible. + +The landlady went to bed at ten o'clock punctually, after which hour +nothing would induce her to pretend she heard the bell, so Marriott +jumped up from his books with an exclamation that augured ill for the +reception of his caller, and prepared to let him in with his own hand. + +The streets of Edinburgh town were very still at this late hour--it was +late for Edinburgh--and in the quiet neighbourhood of F---- Street, +where Marriott lived on the third floor, scarcely a sound broke the +silence. As he crossed the floor, the bell rang a second time, with +unnecessary clamour, and he unlocked the door and passed into the +little hallway with considerable wrath and annoyance in his heart at the +insolence of the double interruption. + +"The fellows all know I'm reading for this exam. Why in the world do +they come to bother me at such an unearthly hour?" + +The inhabitants of the building, with himself, were medical students, +general students, poor Writers to the Signet, and some others whose +vocations were perhaps not so obvious. The stone staircase, dimly +lighted at each floor by a gas-jet that would not turn above a certain +height, wound down to the level of the street with no pretence at carpet +or railing. At some levels it was cleaner than at others. It depended on +the landlady of the particular level. + +The acoustic properties of a spiral staircase seem to be peculiar. +Marriott, standing by the open door, book in hand, thought every moment +the owner of the footsteps would come into view. The sound of the boots +was so close and so loud that they seemed to travel disproportionately +in advance of their cause. Wondering who it could be, he stood ready +with all manner of sharp greetings for the man who dared thus to disturb +his work. But the man did not appear. The steps sounded almost under +his nose, yet no one was visible. + +A sudden queer sensation of fear passed over him--a faintness and a +shiver down the back. It went, however, almost as soon as it came, and +he was just debating whether he would call aloud to his invisible +visitor, or slam the door and return to his books, when the cause of the +disturbance turned the corner very slowly and came into view. + +It was a stranger. He saw a youngish man short of figure and very broad. +His face was the colour of a piece of chalk and the eyes, which were +very bright, had heavy lines underneath them. Though the cheeks and chin +were unshaven and the general appearance unkempt, the man was evidently +a gentleman, for he was well dressed and bore himself with a certain +air. But, strangest of all, he wore no hat, and carried none in his +hand; and although rain had been falling steadily all the evening, he +appeared to have neither overcoat nor umbrella. + +A hundred questions sprang up in Marriott's mind and rushed to his lips, +chief among which was something like "Who in the world are you?" and +"What in the name of heaven do you come to me for?" But none of these +questions found time to express themselves in words, for almost at once +the caller turned his head a little so that the gas light in the hall +fell upon his features from a new angle. Then in a flash Marriott +recognised him. + +"Field! Man alive! Is it you?" he gasped. + +The Fourth Year Man was not lacking in intuition, and he perceived at +once that here was a case for delicate treatment. He divined, without +any actual process of thought, that the catastrophe often predicted had +come at last, and that this man's father had turned him out of the +house. They had been at a private school together years before, and +though they had hardly met once since, the news had not failed to reach +him from time to time with considerable detail, for the family lived +near his own and between certain of the sisters there was great +intimacy. Young Field had gone wild later, he remembered hearing about +it all--drink, a woman, opium, or something of the sort--he could not +exactly call to mind. + +"Come in," he said at once, his anger vanishing. "There's been something +wrong, I can see. Come in, and tell me all about it and perhaps I can +help--" He hardly knew what to say, and stammered a lot more besides. +The dark side of life, and the horror of it, belonged to a world that +lay remote from his own select little atmosphere of books and dreamings. +But he had a man's heart for all that. + +He led the way across the hall, shutting the front door carefully behind +him, and noticed as he did so that the other, though certainly sober, +was unsteady on his legs, and evidently much exhausted. Marriott might +not be able to pass his examinations, but he at least knew the symptoms +of starvation--acute starvation, unless he was much mistaken--when they +stared him in the face. + +"Come along," he said cheerfully, and with genuine sympathy in his +voice. "I'm glad to see you. I was going to have a bite of something to +eat, and you're just in time to join me." + +The other made no audible reply, and shuffled so feebly with his feet +that Marriott took his arm by way of support. He noticed for the first +time that the clothes hung on him with pitiful looseness. The broad +frame was literally hardly more than a frame. He was as thin as a +skeleton. But, as he touched him, the sensation of faintness and dread +returned. It only lasted a moment, and then passed off, and he ascribed +it not unnaturally to the distress and shock of seeing a former friend +in such a pitiful plight. + +"Better let me guide you. It's shamefully dark--this hall. I'm always +complaining," he said lightly, recognising by the weight upon his arm +that the guidance was sorely needed, "but the old cat never does +anything except promise." He led him to the sofa, wondering all the time +where he had come from and how he had found out the address. It must be +at least seven years since those days at the private school when they +used to be such close friends. + +"Now, if you'll forgive me for a minute," he said, "I'll get supper +ready--such as it is. And don't bother to talk. Just take it easy on the +sofa. I see you're dead tired. You can tell me about it afterwards, and +we'll make plans." + +The other sat down on the edge of the sofa and stared in silence, while +Marriott got out the brown loaf, scones, and huge pot of marmalade that +Edinburgh students always keep in their cupboards. His eyes shone with a +brightness that suggested drugs, Marriott thought, stealing a glance at +him from behind the cupboard door. He did not like yet to take a full +square look. The fellow was in a bad way, and it would have been so like +an examination to stare and wait for explanations. Besides, he was +evidently almost too exhausted to speak. So, for reasons of +delicacy--and for another reason as well which he could not exactly +formulate to himself--he let his visitor rest apparently unnoticed, +while he busied himself with the supper. He lit the spirit lamp to make +cocoa, and when the water was boiling he drew up the table with the good +things to the sofa, so that Field need not have even the trouble of +moving to a chair. + +"Now, let's tuck in," he said, "and afterwards we'll have a pipe and a +chat. I'm reading for an exam, you know, and I always have something +about this time. It's jolly to have a companion." + +He looked up and caught his guest's eyes directed straight upon his own. +An involuntary shudder ran through him from head to foot. The face +opposite him was deadly white and wore a dreadful expression of pain and +mental suffering. + +"By Gad!" he said, jumping up, "I quite forgot. I've got some whisky +somewhere. What an ass I am. I never touch it myself when I'm working +like this." + +He went to the cupboard and poured out a stiff glass which the other +swallowed at a single gulp and without any water. Marriott watched him +while he drank it, and at the same time noticed something else as +well--Field's coat was all over dust, and on one shoulder was a bit of +cobweb. It was perfectly dry; Field arrived on a soaking wet night +without hat, umbrella, or overcoat, and yet perfectly dry, even dusty. +Therefore he had been under cover. What did it all mean? Had he been +hiding in the building? . . . + +It was very strange. Yet he volunteered nothing; and Marriott had pretty +well made up his mind by this time that he would not ask any questions +until he had eaten and slept. Food and sleep were obviously what the +poor devil needed most and first--he was pleased with his powers of +ready diagnosis--and it would not be fair to press him till he had +recovered a bit. + +They ate their supper together while the host carried on a running +one-sided conversation, chiefly about himself and his exams and his "old +cat" of a landlady, so that the guest need not utter a single word +unless he really wished to--which he evidently did not! But, while he +toyed with his food, feeling no desire to eat, the other ate +voraciously. To see a hungry man devour cold scones, stale oatcake, and +brown bread laden with marmalade was a revelation to this inexperienced +student who had never known what it was to be without at least three +meals a day. He watched in spite of himself, wondering why the fellow +did not choke in the process. + +But Field seemed to be as sleepy as he was hungry. More than once his +head dropped and he ceased to masticate the food in his mouth. Marriott +had positively to shake him before he would go on with his meal. A +stronger emotion will overcome a weaker, but this struggle between the +sting of real hunger and the magical opiate of overpowering sleep was a +curious sight to the student, who watched it with mingled astonishment +and alarm. He had heard of the pleasure it was to feed hungry men, and +watch them eat, but he had never actually witnessed it, and he had no +idea it was like this. Field ate like an animal--gobbled, stuffed, +gorged. Marriott forgot his reading, and began to feel something very +much like a lump in his throat. + +"Afraid there's been awfully little to offer you, old man," he managed +to blurt out when at length the last scone had disappeared, and the +rapid, one-sided meal was at an end. Field still made no reply, for he +was almost asleep in his seat. He merely looked up wearily and +gratefully. + +"Now you must have some sleep, you know," he continued, "or you'll go to +pieces. I shall be up all night reading for this blessed exam. You're +more than welcome to my bed. To-morrow we'll have a late breakfast +and--and see what can be done--and make plans--I'm awfully good at +making plans, you know," he added with an attempt at lightness. + +Field maintained his "dead sleepy" silence, but appeared to acquiesce, +and the other led the way into the bedroom, apologising as he did so to +this half-starved son of a baronet--whose own home was almost a +palace--for the size of the room. The weary guest, however, made no +pretence of thanks or politeness. He merely steadied himself on his +friend's arm as he staggered across the room, and then, with all his +clothes on, dropped his exhausted body on the bed. In less than a minute +he was to all appearances sound asleep. + +For several minutes Marriott stood in the open door and watched him; +praying devoutly that he might never find himself in a like predicament, +and then fell to wondering what he would do with his unbidden guest on +the morrow. But he did not stop long to think, for the call of his books +was imperative, and happen what might, he must see to it that he passed +that examination. + +Having again locked the door into the hall, he sat down to his books and +resumed his notes on _materia medica_ where he had left off when the +bell rang. But it was difficult for some time to concentrate his mind on +the subject. His thoughts kept wandering to the picture of that +white-faced, strange-eyed fellow, starved and dirty, lying in his +clothes and boots on the bed. He recalled their schooldays together +before they had drifted apart, and how they had vowed eternal +friendship--and all the rest of it. And now! What horrible straits to be +in. How could any man let the love of dissipation take such hold upon +him? + +But one of their vows together Marriott, it seemed, had completely +forgotten. Just now, at any rate, it lay too far in the background of +his memory to be recalled. + +Through the half-open door--the bedroom led out of the sitting-room and +had no other door--came the sound of deep, long-drawn breathing, the +regular, steady breathing of a tired man, so tired that, even to listen +to it made Marriott almost want to go to sleep himself. + +"He needed it," reflected the student, "and perhaps it came only just in +time!" + +Perhaps so; for outside the bitter wind from across the Forth howled +cruelly and drove the rain in cold streams against the window-panes, and +down the deserted streets. Long before Marriott settled down again +properly to his reading, he heard distantly, as it were, through the +sentences of the book, the heavy, deep breathing of the sleeper in the +next room. + +A couple of hours later, when he yawned and changed his books, he still +heard the breathing, and went cautiously up to the door to look round. + +At first the darkness of the room must have deceived him, or else his +eyes were confused and dazzled by the recent glare of the reading lamp. +For a minute or two he could make out nothing at all but dark lumps of +furniture, the mass of the chest of drawers by the wall, and the white +patch where his bath stood in the centre of the floor. + +Then the bed came slowly into view. And on it he saw the outline of the +sleeping body gradually take shape before his eyes, growing up strangely +into the darkness, till it stood out in marked relief--the long black +form against the white counterpane. + +He could hardly help smiling. Field had not moved an inch. He watched +him a moment or two and then returned to his books. The night was full +of the singing voices of the wind and rain. There was no sound of +traffic; no hansoms clattered over the cobbles, and it was still too +early for the milk carts. He worked on steadily and conscientiously, +only stopping now and again to change a book, or to sip some of the +poisonous stuff that kept him awake and made his brain so active, and on +these occasions Field's breathing was always distinctly audible in the +room. Outside, the storm continued to howl, but inside the house all was +stillness. The shade of the reading lamp threw all the light upon the +littered table, leaving the other end of the room in comparative +darkness. The bedroom door was exactly opposite him where he sat. There +was nothing to disturb the worker, nothing but an occasional rush of +wind against the windows, and a slight pain in his arm. + +This pain, however, which he was unable to account for, grew once or +twice very acute. It bothered him; and he tried to remember how, and +when, he could have bruised himself so severely, but without success. + +At length the page before him turned from yellow to grey, and there were +sounds of wheels in the street below. It was four o'clock. Marriott +leaned back and yawned prodigiously. Then he drew back the curtains. The +storm had subsided and the Castle Rock was shrouded in mist. With +another yawn he turned away from the dreary outlook and prepared to +sleep the remaining four hours till breakfast on the sofa. Field was +still breathing heavily in the next room, and he first tip-toed across +the floor to take another look at him. + +Peering cautiously round the half-opened door his first glance fell upon +the bed now plainly discernible in the grey light of morning. He stared +hard. Then he rubbed his eyes. Then he rubbed his eyes again and thrust +his head farther round the edge of the door. With fixed eyes he stared +harder still, and harder. + +But it made no difference at all. He was staring into an empty room. + +The sensation of fear he had felt when Field first appeared upon the +scene returned suddenly, but with much greater force. He became +conscious, too, that his left arm was throbbing violently and causing +him great pain. He stood wondering, and staring, and trying to collect +his thoughts. He was trembling from head to foot. + +By a great effort of the will he left the support of the door and walked +forward boldly into the room. + +There, upon the bed, was the impress of a body, where Field had lain and +slept. There was the mark of the head on the pillow, and the slight +indentation at the foot of the bed where the boots had rested on the +counterpane. And there, plainer than ever--for he was closer to it--was +_the breathing_! + +Marriott tried to pull himself together. With a great effort he found +his voice and called his friend aloud by name! + +"Field! Is that you? Where are you?" + +There was no reply; but the breathing continued without interruption, +coming directly from the bed. His voice had such an unfamiliar sound +that Marriott did not care to repeat his questions, but he went down on +his knees and examined the bed above and below, pulling the mattress off +finally, and taking the coverings away separately one by one. But +though the sounds continued there was no visible sign of Field, nor was +there any space in which a human being, however small, could have +concealed itself. He pulled the bed out from the wall, but the sound +_stayed where it was_. It did not move with the bed. + +Marriott, finding self-control a little difficult in his weary +condition, at once set about a thorough search of the room. He went +through the cupboard, the chest of drawers, the little alcove where the +clothes hung--everything. But there was no sign of anyone. The small +window near the ceiling was closed; and, anyhow, was not large enough to +let a cat pass. The sitting-room door was locked on the inside; he could +not have got out that way. Curious thoughts began to trouble Marriott's +mind, bringing in their train unwelcome sensations. He grew more and +more excited; he searched the bed again till it resembled the scene of a +pillow fight; he searched both rooms, knowing all the time it was +useless,--and then he searched again. A cold perspiration broke out all +over his body; and the sound of heavy breathing, all this time, never +ceased to come from the corner where Field had lain down to sleep. + +Then he tried something else. He pushed the bed back exactly into its +original position--and himself lay down upon it just where his guest had +lain. But the same instant he sprang up again in a single bound. The +breathing was close beside him, almost on his cheek, and between him and +the wall! Not even a child could have squeezed into the space. + +He went back into his sitting-room, opened the windows, welcoming all +the light and air possible, and tried to think the whole matter over +quietly and clearly. Men who read too hard, and slept too little, he +knew were sometimes troubled with very vivid hallucinations. Again he +calmly reviewed every incident of the night; his accurate sensations; +the vivid details; the emotions stirred in him; the dreadful feast--no +single hallucination could ever combine all these and cover so long a +period of time. But with less satisfaction he thought of the recurring +faintness, and curious sense of horror that had once or twice come over +him, and then of the violent pains in his arm. These were quite +unaccountable. + +Moreover, now that he began to analyse and examine, there was one other +thing that fell upon him like a sudden revelation: _During the whole +time Field had not actually uttered a single word!_ Yet, as though in +mockery upon his reflections, there came ever from that inner room the +sound of the breathing, long-drawn, deep, and regular. The thing was +incredible. It was absurd. + +Haunted by visions of brain fever and insanity, Marriott put on his cap +and macintosh and left the house. The morning air on Arthur's Seat would +blow the cobwebs from his brain; the scent of the heather, and above +all, the sight of the sea. He roamed over the wet slopes above Holyrood +for a couple of hours, and did not return until the exercise had shaken +some of the horror out of his bones, and given him a ravening appetite +into the bargain. + +As he entered he saw that there was another man in the room, standing +against the window with his back to the light. He recognised his +fellow-student Greene, who was reading for the same examination. + +"Read hard all night, Marriott," he said, "and thought I'd drop in here +to compare notes and have some breakfast. You're out early?" he added, +by way of a question. Marriott said he had a headache and a walk had +helped it, and Greene nodded and said "Ah!" But when the girl had set +the steaming porridge on the table and gone out again, he went on with +rather a forced tone, "Didn't know you had any friends who drank, +Marriott?" + +This was obviously tentative, and Marriott replied drily that he did not +know it either. + +"Sounds just as if some chap were 'sleeping it off' in there, doesn't +it, though?" persisted the other, with a nod in the direction of the +bedroom, and looking curiously at his friend. The two men stared +steadily at each other for several seconds, and then Marriott said +earnestly-- + +"Then you hear it too, thank God!" + +"Of course I hear it. The door's open. Sorry if I wasn't meant to." + +"Oh, I don't mean that," said Marriott, lowering his voice. "But I'm +awfully relieved. Let me explain. Of course, if you hear it too, then +it's all right; but really it frightened me more than I can tell you. I +thought I was going to have brain fever, or something, and you know what +a lot depends on this exam. It always begins with sounds, or visions, or +some sort of beastly hallucination, and I--" + +"Rot!" ejaculated the other impatiently. "What _are_ you talking about?" + +"Now, listen to me, Greene," said Marriott, as calmly as he could, for +the breathing was still plainly audible, "and I'll tell you what I +mean, only don't interrupt." And thereupon he related exactly what had +happened during the night, telling everything, even down to the pain in +his arm. When it was over he got up from the table and crossed the room. + +"You hear the breathing now plainly, don't you?" he said. Greene said he +did. "Well, come with me, and we'll search the room together." The +other, however, did not move from his chair. + +"I've been in already," he said sheepishly; "I heard the sounds and +thought it was you. The door was ajar--so I went in." + +Marriott made no comment, but pushed the door open as wide as it would +go. As it opened, the sound of breathing grew more and more distinct. + +"_Someone_ must be in there," said Greene under his breath. + +"_Someone_ is in there, but _where_?" said Marriott. Again he urged his +friend to go in with him. But Greene refused point-blank; said he had +been in once and had searched the room and there was nothing there. He +would not go in again for a good deal. + +They shut the door and retired into the other room to talk it all over +with many pipes. Greene questioned his friend very closely, but without +illuminating result, since questions cannot alter facts. + +"The only thing that ought to have a proper, a logical, explanation is +the pain in my arm," said Marriott, rubbing that member with an attempt +at a smile. "It hurts so infernally and aches all the way up. I can't +remember bruising it, though." + +"Let me examine it for you," said Greene. "I'm awfully good at bones in +spite of the examiners' opinion to the contrary." It was a relief to +play the fool a bit, and Marriott took his coat off and rolled up his +sleeve. + +"By George, though, I'm bleeding!" he exclaimed. "Look here! What on +earth's this?" + +On the forearm, quite close to the wrist, was a thin red line. There was +a tiny drop of apparently fresh blood on it. Greene came over and looked +closely at it for some minutes. Then he sat back in his chair, looking +curiously at his friend's face. + +"You've scratched yourself without knowing it," he said presently. + +"There's no sign of a bruise. It must be something else that made the +arm ache." + +Marriott sat very still, staring silently at his arm as though the +solution of the whole mystery lay there actually written upon the skin. + +"What's the matter? I see nothing very strange about a scratch," said +Greene, in an unconvincing sort of voice. "It was your cuff links +probably. Last night in your excitement--" + +But Marriott, white to the very lips, was trying to speak. The sweat +stood in great beads on his forehead. At last he leaned forward close to +his friend's face. + +"Look," he said, in a low voice that shook a little. "Do you see that +red mark? I mean _underneath_ what you call the scratch?" + +Greene admitted he saw something or other, and Marriott wiped the place +clean with his handkerchief and told him to look again more closely. + +"Yes, I see," returned the other, lifting his head after a moment's +careful inspection. "It looks like an old scar." + +"It _is_ an old scar," whispered Marriott, his lips trembling. "_Now_ it +all comes back to me." + +"All what?" Greene fidgeted on his chair. He tried to laugh, but without +success. His friend seemed bordering on collapse. + +"Hush! Be quiet, and--I'll tell you," he said. "_Field made that scar._" + +For a whole minute the two men looked each other full in the face +without speaking. + +"Field made that scar!" repeated Marriott at length in a louder voice. + +"Field! You mean--last night?" + +"No, not last night. Years ago--at school, with his knife. And I made a +scar in his arm with mine." Marriott was talking rapidly now. + +"We exchanged drops of blood in each other's cuts. He put a drop into my +arm and I put one into his--" + +"In the name of heaven, what for?" + +"It was a boys' compact. We made a sacred pledge, a bargain. I remember +it all perfectly now. We had been reading some dreadful book and we +swore to appear to one another--I mean, whoever died first swore to show +himself to the other. And we sealed the compact with each other's blood. +I remember it all so well--the hot summer afternoon in the playground, +seven years ago--and one of the masters caught us and confiscated the +knives--and I have never thought of it again to this day--" + +"And you mean--" stammered Greene. + +But Marriott made no answer. He got up and crossed the room and lay down +wearily upon the sofa, hiding his face in his hands. + +Greene himself was a bit non-plussed. He left his friend alone for a +little while, thinking it all over again. Suddenly an idea seemed to +strike him. He went over to where Marriott still lay motionless on the +sofa and roused him. In any case it was better to face the matter, +whether there was an explanation or not. Giving in was always the silly +exit. + +"I say, Marriott," he began, as the other turned his white face up to +him. "There's no good being so upset about it. I mean--if it's all an +hallucination we know what to do. And if it isn't--well, we know what to +think, don't we?" + +"I suppose so. But it frightens me horribly for some reason," returned +his friend in a hushed voice. "And that poor devil--" + +"But, after all, if the worst is true and--and that chap _has_ kept his +promise--well, he has, that's all, isn't it?" + +Marriott nodded. + +"There's only one thing that occurs to me," Greene went on, "and that +is, are you quite sure that--that he really ate like that--I mean that +he actually _ate anything at all_?" he finished, blurting out all his +thought. + +Marriott stared at him for a moment and then said he could easily make +certain. He spoke quietly. After the main shock no lesser surprise could +affect him. + +"I put the things away myself," he said, "after we had finished. They +are on the third shelf in that cupboard. No one's touched 'em since." + +He pointed without getting up, and Greene took the hint and went over to +look. + +"Exactly," he said, after a brief examination; "just as I thought. It +was partly hallucination, at any rate. The things haven't been touched. +Come and see for yourself." + +Together they examined the shelf. There was the brown loaf, the plate of +stale scones, the oatcake, all untouched. Even the glass of whisky +Marriott had poured out stood there with the whisky still in it. + +"You were feeding--no one," said Greene "Field ate and drank nothing. He +was not there at all!" + +"But the breathing?" urged the other in a low voice, staring with a +dazed expression on his face. + +Greene did not answer. He walked over to the bedroom, while Marriott +followed him with his eyes. He opened the door, and listened. There was +no need for words. The sound of deep, regular breathing came floating +through the air. There was no hallucination about that, at any rate. +Marriott could hear it where he stood on the other side of the room. + +Greene closed the door and came back. "There's only one thing to do," he +declared with decision. "Write home and find out about him, and +meanwhile come and finish your reading in my rooms. I've got an extra +bed." + +"Agreed," returned the Fourth Year Man; "there's no hallucination about +that exam; I must pass that whatever happens." + +And this was what they did. + +It was about a week later when Marriott got the answer from his sister. +Part of it he read out to Greene-- + +"It is curious," she wrote, "that in your letter you should have +enquired after Field. It seems a terrible thing, but you know only a +short while ago Sir John's patience became exhausted, and he turned him +out of the house, they say without a penny. Well, what do you think? He +has killed himself. At least, it looks like suicide. Instead of leaving +the house, he went down into the cellar and simply starved himself to +death. . . . They're trying to suppress it, of course, but I heard it all +from my maid, who got it from their footman. . . . They found the body on +the 14th and the doctor said he had died about twelve hours before. . . . +He was dreadfully thin. . . ." + +"Then he died on the 13th," said Greene. + +Marriott nodded. + +"That's the very night he came to see you." + +Marriott nodded again. + + + + +WITH INTENT TO STEAL + + +To sleep in a lonely barn when the best bedrooms in the house were at +our disposal, seemed, to say the least, unnecessary, and I felt that +some explanation was due to our host. + +But Shorthouse, I soon discovered, had seen to all that; our enterprise +would be tolerated, not welcomed, for the master kept this sort of thing +down with a firm hand. And then, how little I could get this man, +Shorthouse, to tell me. There was much I wanted to ask and hear, but he +surrounded himself with impossible barriers. It was ludicrous; he was +surely asking a good deal of me, and yet he would give so little in +return, and his reason--that it was for my good--may have been perfectly +true, but did not bring me any comfort in its train. He gave me sops now +and then, however, to keep up my curiosity, till I soon was aware that +there were growing up side by side within me a genuine interest and an +equally genuine fear; and something of both these is probably necessary +to all real excitement. + +The barn in question was some distance from the house, on the side of +the stables, and I had passed it on several of my journeyings to and fro +wondering at its forlorn and untarred appearance under a régime where +everything was so spick and span; but it had never once occurred to me +as possible that I should come to spend a night under its roof with a +comparative stranger, and undergo there an experience belonging to an +order of things I had always rather ridiculed and despised. + +At the moment I can only partially recall the process by which +Shorthouse persuaded me to lend him my company. Like myself, he was a +guest in this autumn house-party, and where there were so many to +chatter and to chaff, I think his taciturnity of manner had appealed to +me by contrast, and that I wished to repay something of what I owed. +There was, no doubt, flattery in it as well, for he was more than twice +my age, a man of amazingly wide experience, an explorer of all the +world's corners where danger lurked, and--most subtle flattery of +all--by far the best shot in the whole party, our host included. + +At first, however, I held out a bit. + +"But surely this story you tell," I said, "has the parentage common to +all such tales--a superstitious heart and an imaginative brain--and has +grown now by frequent repetition into an authentic ghost story? Besides, +this head gardener of half a century ago," I added, seeing that he still +went on cleaning his gun in silence, "who was he, and what positive +information have you about him beyond the fact that he was found hanging +from the rafters, dead?" + +"He was no mere head gardener, this man who passed as such," he replied +without looking up, "but a fellow of splendid education who used this +curious disguise for his own purposes. Part of this very barn, of which +he always kept the key, was found to have been fitted up as a complete +laboratory, with athanor, alembic, cucurbite, and other appliances, some +of which the master destroyed at once--perhaps for the best--and which I +have only been able to guess at--" + +"Black Arts," I laughed. + +"Who knows?" he rejoined quietly. "The man undoubtedly possessed +knowledge--dark knowledge--that was most unusual and dangerous, and I +can discover no means by which he came to it--no ordinary means, that +is. But I _have_ found many facts in the case which point to the +exercise of a most desperate and unscrupulous will; and the strange +disappearances in the neighbourhood, as well as the bones found buried +in the kitchen garden, though never actually traced to him, seem to me +full of dreadful suggestion." + +I laughed again, a little uncomfortably perhaps, and said it reminded +one of the story of Giles de Rays, maréchal of France, who was said to +have killed and tortured to death in a few years no less than one +hundred and sixty women and children for the purposes of necromancy, and +who was executed for his crimes at Nantes. But Shorthouse would not +"rise," and only returned to his subject. + +"His suicide seems to have been only just in time to escape arrest," he +said. + +"A magician of no high order then," I observed sceptically, "if suicide +was his only way of evading the country police." + +"The police of London and St. Petersburg rather," returned Shorthouse; +"for the headquarters of this pretty company was somewhere in Russia, +and his apparatus all bore the marks of the most skilful foreign make. A +Russian woman then employed in the household--governess, or +something--vanished, too, about the same time and was never caught. She +was no doubt the cleverest of the lot. And, remember, the object of this +appalling group was not mere vulgar gain, but a kind of knowledge that +called for the highest qualities of courage and intellect in the +seekers." + +I admit I was impressed by the man's conviction of voice and manner, for +there is something very compelling in the force of an earnest man's +belief, though I still affected to sneer politely. + +"But, like most Black Magicians, the fellow only succeeded in compassing +his own destruction--that of his tools, rather, and of escaping +himself." + +"So that he might better accomplish his objects _elsewhere and +otherwise_," said Shorthouse, giving, as he spoke, the most minute +attention to the cleaning of the lock. + +"Elsewhere and otherwise," I gasped. + +"As if the shell he left hanging from the rafter in the barn in no way +impeded the man's spirit from continuing his dreadful work under new +conditions," he added quietly, without noticing my interruption. "The +idea being that he sometimes revisits the garden and the barn, chiefly +the barn--" + +"The barn!" I exclaimed; "for what purpose?" + +"Chiefly the barn," he finished, as if he had not heard me, "that is, +when there is anybody in it." + +I stared at him without speaking, for there was a wonder in me how he +would add to this. + +"When he wants fresh material, that is--he comes to steal from the +living." + +"Fresh material!" I repeated aghast. "To steal from the living!" Even +then, in broad daylight, I was foolishly conscious of a creeping +sensation at the roots of my hair, as if a cold breeze were passing over +my skull. + +"The strong vitality of the living is what this sort of creature is +supposed to need most," he went on imperturbably, "and where he has +worked and thought and struggled before is the easiest place for him to +get it in. The former conditions are in some way more easily +reconstructed--" He stopped suddenly, and devoted all his attention to +the gun. "It's difficult to explain, you know, rather," he added +presently, "and, besides, it's much better that you should not know till +afterwards." + +I made a noise that was the beginning of a score of questions and of as +many sentences, but it got no further than a mere noise, and Shorthouse, +of course, stepped in again. + +"Your scepticism," he added, "is one of the qualities that induce me to +ask you to spend the night there with me." + +"In those days," he went on, in response to my urging for more +information, "the family were much abroad, and often travelled for years +at a time. This man was invaluable in their absence. His wonderful +knowledge of horticulture kept the gardens--French, Italian, English--in +perfect order. He had carte blanche in the matter of expense, and of +course selected all his own underlings. It was the sudden, unexpected +return of the master that surprised the amazing stories of the +countryside before the fellow, with all his cleverness, had time to +prepare or conceal." + +"But is there no evidence, no more recent evidence, to show that +something is likely to happen if we sit up there?" I asked, pressing him +yet further, and I think to his liking, for it showed at least that I +was interested. "Has anything happened there lately, for instance?" + +Shorthouse glanced up from the gun he was cleaning so assiduously, and +the smoke from his pipe curled up into an odd twist between me and the +black beard and oriental, sun-tanned face. The magnetism of his look and +expression brought more sense of conviction to me than I had felt +hitherto, and I realised that there had been a sudden little change in +my attitude and that I was now much more inclined to go in for the +adventure with him. At least, I thought, with such a man, one would be +safe in any emergency; for he is determined, resourceful, and to be +depended upon. + +"There's the point," he answered slowly; "for there has apparently been +a fresh outburst--an attack almost, it seems,--quite recently. There is +evidence, of course, plenty of it, or I should not feel the interest I +do feel, but--" he hesitated a moment, as though considering how much he +ought to let me know, "but the fact is that three men this summer, on +separate occasions, who have gone into that barn after nightfall, have +been _accosted_--" + +"Accosted?" I repeated, betrayed into the interruption by his choice of +so singular a word. + +"And one of the stablemen--a recent arrival and quite ignorant of the +story--who had to go in there late one night, saw a dark substance +hanging down from one of the rafters, and when he climbed up, shaking +all over, to cut it down--for he said he felt sure it was a corpse--the +knife passed through nothing but air, and he heard a sound up under the +eaves as if someone were laughing. Yet, while he slashed away, and +afterwards too, the thing went on swinging there before his eyes and +turning slowly with its own weight, like a huge joint on a spit. The man +declares, too, that it had a large bearded face, and that the mouth was +open and drawn down like the mouth of a hanged man." + +"Can we question this fellow?" + +"He's gone--gave notice at once, but not before I had questioned him +myself very closely." + +"Then this was quite recent?" I said, for I knew Shorthouse had not been +in the house more than a week. + +"Four days ago," he replied. "But, more than that, only three days ago a +couple of men were in there together in full daylight when one of them +suddenly turned deadly faint. He said that he felt an overmastering +impulse to hang himself; and he looked about for a rope and was furious +when his companion tried to prevent him--" + +"But he did prevent him?" + +"Just in time, but not before he had clambered on to a beam. He was very +violent." + +I had so much to say and ask that I could get nothing out in time, and +Shorthouse went on again. + +"I've had a sort of watching brief for this case," he said with a smile, +whose real significance, however, completely escaped me at the time, +"and one of the most disagreeable features about it is the deliberate +way the servants have invented excuses to go out to the place, and +always after dark; some of them who have no right to go there, and no +real occasion at all--have never been there in their lives before +probably--and now all of a sudden have shown the keenest desire and +determination to go out there about dusk, or soon after, and with the +most paltry and foolish excuses in the world. Of course," he added, +"they have been prevented, but the desire, stronger than their +superstitious dread, and which they cannot explain, is very curious." + +"Very," I admitted, feeling that my hair was beginning to stand up +again. + +"You see," he went on presently, "it all points to volition--in fact to +deliberate arrangement. It is no mere family ghost that goes with every +ivied house in England of a certain age; it is something real, and +something very malignant." + +He raised his face from the gun barrel, and for the first time his eye +caught mine in the full. Yes, he was very much in earnest. Also, he knew +a great deal more than he meant to tell. + +"It's worth tempting--and fighting, _I_ think," he said; "but I want a +companion with me. Are you game?" His enthusiasm undoubtedly caught me, +but I still wanted to hedge a bit. + +"I'm very sceptical," I pleaded. + +"All the better," he said, almost as if to himself. "You have the pluck; +I have the knowledge--" + +"The knowledge?" + +He looked round cautiously as if to make sure that there was no one +within earshot. + +"I've been in the place myself," he said in a lowered voice, "quite +lately--in fact only three nights ago--the day the man turned queer." + +I stared. + +"But--I was obliged to come out--" + +Still I stared. + +"Quickly," he added significantly. + +"You've gone into the thing pretty thoroughly," was all I could find to +say, for I had almost made up my mind to go with him, and was not sure +that I wanted to hear too much beforehand. + +He nodded. "It's a bore, of course, but I must do everything +thoroughly--or not at all." + +"That's why you clean your own gun, I suppose?" + +"That's why, when there's any danger, I take as few chances as +possible," he said, with the same enigmatical smile I had noticed +before; and then he added with emphasis, "And that is also why I ask you +to keep me company now." + +Of course, the shaft went straight home, and I gave my promise without +further ado. + +Our preparations for the night--a couple of rugs and a flask of black +coffee--were not elaborate, and we found no difficulty, about ten +o'clock, in absenting ourselves from the billiard-room without +attracting curiosity. Shorthouse met me by arrangement under the cedar +on the back lawn, and I at once realised with vividness what a +difference there is between making plans in the daytime and carrying +them out in the dark. One's common-sense--at least in matters of this +sort--is reduced to a minimum, and imagination with all her attendant +sprites usurps the place of judgment. Two and two no longer make +four--they make a mystery, and the mystery loses no time in growing into +a menace. In this particular case, however, my imagination did not find +wings very readily, for I knew that my companion was the most +_unmovable_ of men--an unemotional, solid block of a man who would +never lose his head, and in any conceivable state of affairs would +always take the right as well as the strong course. So my faith in the +man gave me a false courage that was nevertheless very consoling, and I +looked forward to the night's adventure with a genuine appetite. + +Side by side, and in silence, we followed the path that skirted the East +Woods, as they were called, and then led across two hay fields, and +through another wood, to the barn, which thus lay about half a mile from +the Lower Farm. To the Lower Farm, indeed, it properly belonged; and +this made us realise more clearly how very ingenious must have been the +excuses of the Hall servants who felt the desire to visit it. + +It had been raining during the late afternoon, and the trees were still +dripping heavily on all sides, but the moment we left the second wood +and came out into the open, we saw a clearing with the stars overhead, +against which the barn outlined itself in a black, lugubrious shadow. +Shorthouse led the way--still without a word--and we crawled in through +a low door and seated ourselves in a soft heap of hay in the extreme +corner. + +"Now," he said, speaking for the first time, "I'll show you the inside +of the barn, so that you may know where you are, and what to do, in +case anything happens." + +A match flared in the darkness, and with the help of two more that +followed I saw the interior of a lofty and somewhat rickety-looking +barn, erected upon a wall of grey stones that ran all round and extended +to a height of perhaps four feet. Above this masonry rose the wooden +sides, running up into the usual vaulted roof, and supported by a double +tier of massive oak rafters, which stretched across from wall to wall +and were intersected by occasional uprights. I felt as if we were inside +the skeleton of some antediluvian monster whose huge black ribs +completely enfolded us. Most of this, of course, only sketched itself to +my eye in the uncertain light of the flickering matches, and when I said +I had seen enough, and the matches went out, we were at once enveloped +in an atmosphere as densely black as anything that I have ever known. +And the silence equalled the darkness. + +We made ourselves comfortable and talked in low voices. The rugs, which +were very large, covered our legs; and our shoulders sank into a really +luxurious bed of softness. Yet neither of us apparently felt sleepy. I +certainly didn't, and Shorthouse, dropping his customary brevity that +fell little short of gruffness, plunged into an easy run of talking +that took the form after a time of personal reminiscences. This rapidly +became a vivid narration of adventure and travel in far countries, and +at any other time I should have allowed myself to become completely +absorbed in what he told. But, unfortunately, I was never able for a +single instant to forget the real purpose of our enterprise, and +consequently I felt all my senses more keenly on the alert than usual, +and my attention accordingly more or less distracted. It was, indeed, a +revelation to hear Shorthouse unbosom himself in this fashion, and to a +young man it was of course doubly fascinating; but the little sounds +that always punctuate even the deepest silence out of doors claimed some +portion of my attention, and as the night grew on I soon became aware +that his tales seemed somewhat disconnected and abrupt--and that, in +fact, I heard really only part of them. + +It was not so much that I actually heard other sounds, but that I +_expected_ to hear them; this was what stole the other half of my +listening. There was neither wind nor rain to break the stillness, and +certainly there were no physical presences in our neighbourhood, for we +were half a mile even from the Lower Farm; and from the Hall and +stables, at least a mile. Yet the stillness was being continually +broken--perhaps _disturbed_ is a better word--and it was to these very +remote and tiny disturbances that I felt compelled to devote at least +half my listening faculties. + +From time to time, however, I made a remark or asked a question, to show +that I was listening and interested; but, in a sense, my questions +always seemed to bear in one direction and to make for one issue, +namely, my companion's previous experience in the barn when he had been +obliged to come out "quickly." + +Apparently I could not help myself in the matter, for this was really +the one consuming curiosity I had; and the fact that it was better for +me not to know it made me the keener to know it all, even the worst. + +Shorthouse realised this even better than I did. I could tell it by the +way he dodged, or wholly ignored, my questions, and this subtle sympathy +between us showed plainly enough, had I been able at the time to reflect +upon its meaning, that the nerves of both of us were in a very sensitive +and highly-strung condition. Probably, the complete confidence I felt in +his ability to face whatever might happen, and the extent to which also +I relied upon him for my own courage, prevented the exercise of my +ordinary powers of reflection, while it left my senses free to a more +than usual degree of activity. + +Things must have gone on in this way for a good hour or more, when I +made the sudden discovery that there was something unusual in the +conditions of our environment. This sounds a roundabout mode of +expression, but I really know not how else to put it. The discovery +almost rushed upon me. By rights, we were two men waiting in an alleged +haunted barn for something to happen; and, as two men who trusted one +another implicitly (though for very different reasons), there should +have been two minds keenly alert, with the ordinary senses in active +co-operation. Some slight degree of nervousness, too, there might also +have been, but beyond this, nothing. It was therefore with something of +dismay that I made the sudden discovery that there _was_ something more, +and something that I ought to have noticed very much sooner than I +actually did notice it. + +The fact was--Shorthouse's stream of talk was wholly unnatural. He was +talking with a purpose. He did not wish to be cornered by my questions, +true, but he had another and a deeper purpose still, and it grew upon +me, as an unpleasant deduction from my discovery, that this strong, +cynical, unemotional man by my side was talking--and had been talking +all this time--to gain a particular end. And this end, I soon felt +clearly, was to _convince himself_. But, of what? + +For myself, as the hours wore on towards midnight, I was not anxious to +find the answer; but in the end it became impossible to avoid it, and I +knew as I listened, that he was pouring forth this steady stream of +vivid reminiscences of travel--South Seas, big game, Russian +exploration, women, adventures of all sorts--_because he wished the past +to reassert itself to the complete exclusion of the present_. He was +taking his precautions. He was afraid. + +I felt a hundred things, once this was clear to me, but none of them +more than the wish to get up at once and leave the barn. If Shorthouse +was afraid already, what in the world was to happen to me in the long +hours that lay ahead? . . . I only know that, in my fierce efforts to deny +to myself the evidence of his partial collapse, the strength came that +enabled me to play my part properly, and I even found myself helping +him by means of animated remarks upon his stories, and by more or less +judicious questions. I also helped him by dismissing from my mind any +desire to enquire into the truth of his former experience; and it was +good I did so, for had he turned it loose on me, with those great powers +of convincing description that he had at his command, I verily believe +that I should never have crawled from that barn alive. So, at least, I +felt at the moment. It was the instinct of self-preservation, and it +brought sound judgment. + +Here, then, at least, with different motives, reached, too, by opposite +ways, we were both agreed upon one thing, namely, that temporarily we +would forget. Fools we were, for a dominant emotion is not so easily +banished, and we were for ever recurring to it in a hundred ways direct +and indirect. A real fear cannot be so easily trifled with, and while we +toyed on the surface with thousands and thousands of words--mere +words--our sub-conscious activities were steadily gaining force, and +would before very long have to be properly acknowledged. We could not +get away from it. At last, when he had finished the recital of an +adventure which brought him near enough to a horrible death, I admitted +that in my uneventful life I had never yet been face to face with a +real fear. It slipped out inadvertently, and, of course, without +intention, but the tendency in him at the time was too strong to be +resisted. He saw the loophole, and made for it full tilt. + +"It is the same with all the emotions," he said. "The experiences of +others never give a complete account. Until a man has deliberately +turned and faced for himself the fiends that chase him down the years, +he has no knowledge of what they really are, or of what they can do. +Imaginative authors may write, moralists may preach, and scholars may +criticise, but they are dealing all the time in a coinage of which they +know not the actual value. Their listener gets a sensation--but not the +true one. Until you have faced these emotions," he went on, with the +same race of words that had come from him the whole evening, "and made +them your own, your slaves, you have no idea of the power that is in +them--hunger, that shows lights beckoning beyond the grave; thirst, that +fills with mingled ice and fire; passion, love, loneliness, revenge, +and--" He paused for a minute, and though I knew we were on the brink I +was powerless to hold him. " . . . _and fear_," he went on--"fear . . . +I think that death from fear, or madness from fear, must sum up in a +second of time the total of all the most awful sensations it is possible +for a man to know." + +"Then you have yourself felt something of this fear," I interrupted; +"for you said just now--" + +"I do not mean physical fear," he replied; "for that is more or less a +question of nerves and will, and it is imagination that makes men +cowards. I mean an _absolute_ fear, a physical fear one might call it, +that reaches the soul and withers every power one possesses." + +He said a lot more, for he, too, was wholly unable to stem the torrent +once it broke loose; but I have forgotten it; or, rather, mercifully I +did not hear it, for I stopped my ears and only heard the occasional +words when I took my fingers out to find if he had come to an end. In +due course he did come to an end, and there we left it, for I then knew +positively what he already knew: that somewhere here in the night, and +within the walls of this very barn where we were sitting, there was +waiting Something of dreadful malignancy and of great power. Something +that we might both have to face ere morning, and Something that he had +already tried to face once and failed in the attempt. + +The night wore slowly on; and it gradually became more and more clear to +me that I could not dare to rely as at first upon my companion, and that +our positions were undergoing a slow process of reversal. I thank Heaven +this was not borne in upon me too suddenly; and that I had at least the +time to readjust myself somewhat to the new conditions. Preparation was +possible, even if it was not much, and I sought by every means in my +power to gather up all the shreds of my courage, so that they might +together make a decent rope that would stand the strain when it came. +The strain would come, that was certain, and I was thoroughly well +aware--though for my life I cannot put into words the reasons for my +knowledge--that the massing of the material against us was proceeding +somewhere in the darkness with determination and a horrible skill +besides. + +Shorthouse meanwhile talked without ceasing. The great quantity of hay +opposite--or straw, I believe it actually was--seemed to deaden the +sound of his voice, but the silence, too, had become so oppressive that +I welcomed his torrent and even dreaded the moment when it would stop. I +heard, too, the gentle ticking of my watch. Each second uttered its +voice and dropped away into a gulf, as if starting on a journey whence +there was no return. Once a dog barked somewhere in the distance, +probably on the Lower Farm; and once an owl hooted close outside and I +could hear the swishing of its wings as it passed overhead. Above me, in +the darkness, I could just make out the outline of the barn, sinister +and black, the rows of rafters stretching across from wall to wall like +wicked arms that pressed upon the hay. Shorthouse, deep in some involved +yarn of the South Seas that was meant to be full of cheer and sunshine, +and yet only succeeded in making a ghastly mixture of unnatural +colouring, seemed to care little whether I listened or not. He made no +appeal to me, and I made one or two quite irrelevant remarks which +passed him by and proved that he was merely uttering sounds. He, too, +was afraid of the silence. + +I fell to wondering how long a man could talk without stopping. . . . Then +it seemed to me that these words of his went falling into the same gulf +where the seconds dropped, only they were heavier and fell faster. I +began to chase them. Presently one of them fell much faster than the +rest, and I pursued it and found myself almost immediately in a land of +clouds and shadows. They rose up and enveloped me, pressing on the +eyelids. . . . It must have been just here that I actually fell asleep, +somewhere between twelve and one o'clock, because, as I chased this word +at tremendous speed through space, I knew that I had left the other +words far, very far behind me, till, at last, I could no longer hear +them at all. The voice of the story-teller was beyond the reach of +hearing; and I was falling with ever increasing rapidity through an +immense void. + +A sound of whispering roused me. Two persons were talking under their +breath close beside me. The words in the main escaped me, but I caught +every now and then bitten-off phrases and half sentences, to which, +however, I could attach no intelligible meaning. The words were quite +close--at my very side in fact--and one of the voices sounded so +familiar, that curiosity overcame dread, and I turned to look. I was not +mistaken; _it was Shorthouse whispering_. But the other person, who must +have been just a little beyond him, was lost in the darkness and +invisible to me. It seemed then that Shorthouse at once turned up his +face and looked at me and, by some means or other that caused me no +surprise at the time, I easily made out the features in the darkness. +They wore an expression I had never seen there before; he seemed +distressed, exhausted, worn out, and as though he were about to give in +after a long mental struggle. He looked at me, almost beseechingly, and +the whispering of the other person died away. + +"They're at me," he said. + +I found it quite impossible to answer; the words stuck in my throat. His +voice was thin, plaintive, almost like a child's. + +"I shall have to go. I'm not as strong as I thought. They'll call it +suicide, but, of course, it's really murder." There was real anguish in +his voice, and it terrified me. + +A deep silence followed these extraordinary words, and I somehow +understood that the Other Person was just going to carry on the +conversation--I even fancied I saw lips shaping themselves just over my +friend's shoulder--when I felt a sharp blow in the ribs and a voice, +this time a deep voice, sounded in my ear. I opened my eyes, and the +wretched dream vanished. Yet it left behind it an impression of a strong +and quite unusual reality. + +"_Do_ try not to go to sleep again," he said sternly. "You seem +exhausted. Do you feel so?" There was a note in his voice I did not +welcome,--less than alarm, but certainly more than mere solicitude. + +"I do feel terribly sleepy all of a sudden," I admitted, ashamed. + +"So you may," he added very earnestly; "but I rely on you to keep awake, +if only to watch. You have been asleep for half an hour at least--and +you were so still--I thought I'd wake you--" + +"Why?" I asked, for my curiosity and nervousness were altogether too +strong to be resisted. "Do you think we are in danger?" + +"I think _they_ are about here now. I feel my vitality going +rapidly--that's always the first sign. You'll last longer than I, +remember. Watch carefully." + +The conversation dropped. I was afraid to say all I wanted to say. It +would have been too unmistakably a confession; and intuitively I +realised the danger of admitting the existence of certain emotions until +positively forced to. But presently Shorthouse began again. His voice +sounded odd, and as if it had lost power. It was more like a woman's or +a boy's voice than a man's, and recalled the voice in my dream. + +"I suppose you've got a knife?" he asked. + +"Yes--a big clasp knife; but why?" He made no answer. "You don't think a +practical joke likely? No one suspects we're here," I went on. Nothing +was more significant of our real feelings this night than the way we +toyed with words, and never dared more than to skirt the things in our +mind. + +"It's just as well to be prepared," he answered evasively. "Better be +quite sure. See which pocket it's in--so as to be ready." + +I obeyed mechanically, and told him. But even this scrap of talk proved +to me that he was getting further from me all the time in his mind. He +was following a line that was strange to me, and, as he distanced me, I +felt that the sympathy between us grew more and more strained. _He knew +more_; it was not that I minded so much--but that he was willing to +_communicate less_. And in proportion as I lost his support, I dreaded +his increasing silence. Not of words--for he talked more volubly than +ever, and with a fiercer purpose--but his silence in giving no hint of +what he must have known to be really going on the whole time. + +The night was perfectly still. Shorthouse continued steadily talking, +and I jogged him now and again with remarks or questions in order to +keep awake. He paid no attention, however, to either. + +About two in the morning a short shower fell, and the drops rattled +sharply on the roof like shot. I was glad when it stopped, for it +completely drowned all other sounds and made it impossible to hear +anything else that might be going on. Something _was_ going on, too, all +the time, though for the life of me I could not say what. The outer +world had grown quite dim--the house-party, the shooters, the +billiard-room, and the ordinary daily incidents of my visit. All my +energies were concentrated on the present, and the constant strain of +watching, waiting, listening, was excessively telling. + +Shorthouse still talked of his adventures, in some Eastern country now, +and less connectedly. These adventures, real or imaginary, had quite a +savour of the Arabian Nights, and did not by any means make it easier +for me to keep my hold on reality. The lightest weight will affect the +balance under such circumstances, and in this case the weight of his +talk was on the wrong scale. His words were very rapid, and I found it +overwhelmingly difficult not to follow them into that great gulf of +darkness where they all rushed and vanished. But that, I knew, meant +sleep again. Yet, it was strange I should feel sleepy when at the same +time all my nerves were fairly tingling. Every time I heard what seemed +like a step outside, or a movement in the hay opposite, the blood stood +still for a moment in my veins. Doubtless, the unremitting strain told +upon me more than I realised, and this was doubly great now that I knew +Shorthouse was a source of weakness instead of strength, as I had +counted. Certainly, a curious sense of languor grew upon me more and +more, and I was sure that the man beside me was engaged in the same +struggle. The feverishness of his talk proved this, if nothing else. It +was dreadfully hard to keep awake. + +But this time, instead of dropping into the gulf, I saw something come +up out of it! It reached our world by a door in the side of the barn +furthest from me, and it came in cautiously and silently and moved into +the mass of hay opposite. There, for a moment, I lost it, but presently +I caught it again higher up. It was clinging, like a great bat, to the +side of the barn. Something trailed behind it, I could not make out +what. . . . It crawled up the wooden wall and began to move out along one +of the rafters. A numb terror settled down all over me as I watched it. +The thing trailing behind it was apparently a rope. + +The whispering began again just then, but the only words I could catch +seemed without meaning; it was almost like another language. The voices +were above me, under the roof. Suddenly I saw signs of active movement +going on just beyond the place where the thing lay upon the rafter. +There was something else up there with it! Then followed panting, like +the quick breathing that accompanies effort, and the next minute a black +mass dropped through the air and dangled at the end of the rope. + +Instantly, it all flashed upon me. I sprang to my feet and rushed +headlong across the floor of the barn. How I moved so quickly in the +darkness I do not know; but, even as I ran, it flashed into my mind that +I should never get at my knife in time to cut the thing down, or else +that I should find it had been taken from me. Somehow or other--the +Goddess of Dreams knows how--I climbed up by the hay bales and swung out +along the rafter. I was hanging, of course, by my arms, and the knife +was already between my teeth, though I had no recollection of how it got +there. It was open. The mass, hanging like a side of bacon, was only a +few feet in front of me, and I could plainly see the dark line of rope +that fastened it to the beam. I then noticed for the first time that it +was swinging and turning in the air, and that as I approached it seemed +to move along the beam, so that the same distance was always maintained +between us. The only thing I could do--for there was no time to +hesitate--was to jump at it through the air and slash at the rope as I +dropped. + +I seized the knife with my right hand, gave a great swing of my body +with my legs and leaped forward at it through the air. Horrors! It was +closer to me than I knew, and I plunged full into it, and the arm with +the knife missed the rope and cut deeply into some substance that was +soft and yielding. But, as I dropped past it, the thing had time to turn +half its width so that it swung round and faced me--and I could have +sworn as I rushed past it through the air, that it had the features of +Shorthouse. + +The shock of this brought the vile nightmare to an abrupt end, and I +woke up a second time on the soft hay-bed to find that the grey dawn was +stealing in, and that I was exceedingly cold. After all I had failed to +keep awake, and my sleep, since it was growing light, must have lasted +at least an hour. A whole hour off my guard! + +There was no sound from Shorthouse, to whom, of course, my first +thoughts turned; probably his flow of words had ceased long ago, and he +too had yielded to the persuasions of the seductive god. I turned to +wake him and get the comfort of companionship for the horror of my +dream, when to my utter dismay I saw that the place where he had been +was vacant. He was no longer beside me. + +It had been no little shock before to discover that the ally in whom lay +all my faith and dependence was really frightened, but it is quite +impossible to describe the sensations I experienced when I realised he +had gone altogether and that I was alone in the barn. For a minute or +two my head swam and I felt a prey to a helpless terror. The dream, too, +still seemed half real, so vivid had it been! I was thoroughly +frightened--hot and cold by turns--and I clutched the hay at my side in +handfuls, and for some moments had no idea in the world what I should +do. + +This time, at least, I was unmistakably awake, and I made a great effort +to collect myself and face the meaning of the disappearance of my +companion. In this I succeeded so far that I decided upon a thorough +search of the barn, inside and outside. It was a dreadful undertaking, +and I did not feel at all sure of being able to bring it to a +conclusion, but I knew pretty well that unless something was done at +once, I should simply collapse. + +But, when I tried to move, I found that the cold, and fear, and I know +not what else unholy besides, combined to make it almost impossible. I +suddenly realised that a tour of inspection, during the whole of which +my back would be open to attack, was not to be thought of. My will was +not equal to it. Anything might spring upon me any moment from the dark +corners, and the growing light was just enough to reveal every movement +I made to any who might be watching. For, even then, and while I was +still half dazed and stupid, I knew perfectly well that someone was +watching me all the time with the utmost intentness. I had not merely +awakened; I had _been_ awakened. + +I decided to try another plan; I called to him. My voice had a thin weak +sound, far away and quite unreal, and there was no answer to it. Hark, +though! There was something that might have been a very faint voice near +me! + +I called again, this time with greater distinctness, "Shorthouse, where +are you? can you hear me?" + +There certainly was a sound, but it was not a voice. Something was +moving. It was someone shuffling along, and it seemed to be outside the +barn. I was afraid to call again, and the sound continued. It was an +ordinary sound enough, no doubt, but it came to me just then as +something unusual and unpleasant. Ordinary sounds remain ordinary only +so long as one is not listening to them; under the influence of intense +listening they become unusual, portentous, and therefore extraordinary. +So, this common sound came to me as something uncommon, disagreeable. It +conveyed, too, an impression of stealth. And with it there was another, +a slighter sound. + +Just at this minute the wind bore faintly over the field the sound of +the stable clock, a mile away. It was three o'clock; the hour when +life's pulses beat lowest; when poor souls lying between life and death +find it hardest to resist. Vividly I remember this thought crashing +through my brain with a sound of thunder, and I realised that the strain +on my nerves was nearing the limit, and that something would have to be +done at once if I was to reclaim my self-control at all. + +When thinking over afterwards the events of this dreadful night, it has +always seemed strange to me that my second nightmare, so vivid in its +terror and its nearness, should have furnished me with no inkling of +what was really going on all this while; and that I should not have been +able to put two and two together, or have discovered sooner than I did +_what_ this sound was and _where_ it came from. I can well believe that +the vile scheming which lay behind the whole experience found it an easy +trifle to direct my hearing amiss; though, of course, it may equally +well have been due to the confused condition of my mind at the time and +to the general nervous tension under which I was undoubtedly suffering. + +But, whatever the cause for my stupidity at first in failing to trace +the sound to its proper source, I can only say here that it was with a +shock of unexampled horror that my eye suddenly glanced upwards and +caught sight of the figure moving in the shadows above my head among the +rafters. Up to this moment I had thought that it was somebody outside +the barn, crawling round the walls till it came to a door; and the rush +of horror that froze my heart when I looked up and saw that it was +Shorthouse creeping stealthily along a beam, is something altogether +beyond the power of words to describe. + +He was staring intently down upon me, and I knew at once that it was he +who had been watching me. + +This point was, I think, for me the climax of feeling in the whole +experience; I was incapable of any further sensation--that is any +further sensation in the same direction. But here the abominable +character of the affair showed itself most plainly, for it suddenly +presented an entirely new aspect to me. The light fell on the picture +from a new angle, and galvanised me into a fresh ability to feel when I +thought a merciful numbness had supervened. It may not sound a great +deal in the printed letter, but it came to me almost as if it had been +an extension of consciousness, for the Hand that held the pencil +suddenly touched in with ghastly effect of contrast the element of the +ludicrous. Nothing could have been worse just then. Shorthouse, the +masterful spirit, so intrepid in the affairs of ordinary life, whose +power increased rather than lessened in the face of danger--this man, +creeping on hands and knees along a rafter in a barn at three o'clock in +the morning, watching me all the time as a cat watches a mouse! Yes, it +was distinctly ludicrous, and while it gave me a measure with which to +gauge the dread emotion that caused his aberration, it stirred +somewhere deep in my interior the strings of an empty laughter. + +One of those moments then came to me that are said to come sometimes +under the stress of great emotion, when in an instant the mind grows +dazzlingly clear. An abnormal lucidity took the place of my confusion of +thought, and I suddenly understood that the two dreams which I had taken +for nightmares must really have been sent me, and that I had been +allowed for one moment to look over the edge of what was to come; the +Good was helping, even when the Evil was most determined to destroy. + +I saw it all clearly now. Shorthouse had overrated his strength. The +terror inspired by his first visit to the barn (when he had failed) had +roused the man's whole nature to win, and he had brought me to divert +the deadly stream of evil. That he had again underrated the power +against him was apparent as soon as he entered the barn, and his wild +talk, and refusal to admit what he felt, were due to this desire not to +acknowledge the insidious fear that was growing in his heart. But, at +length, it had become too strong. He had left my side in my sleep--had +been overcome himself, perhaps, first in _his_ sleep, by the dreadful +impulse. He knew that I should interfere, and with every movement he +made, he watched me steadily, for the mania was upon him and he was +_determined to hang himself_. He pretended not to hear me calling, and I +knew that anything coming between him and his purpose would meet the +full force of his fury--the fury of a maniac, of one, for the time +being, truly possessed. + +For a minute or two I sat there and stared. I saw then for the first +time that there was a bit of rope trailing after him, and that this was +what made the rustling sound I had noticed. Shorthouse, too, had come to +a stop. His body lay along the rafter like a crouching animal. He was +looking hard at me. That whitish patch was his face. + +I can lay claim to no courage in the matter, for I must confess that in +one sense I was frightened almost beyond control. But at the same time +the necessity for decided action, if I was to save his life, came to me +with an intense relief. No matter what animated him for the moment, +Shorthouse was only a _man_; it was flesh and blood I had to contend +with and not the intangible powers. Only a few hours before I had seen +him cleaning his gun, smoking his pipe, knocking the billiard balls +about with very human clumsiness, and the picture flashed across my +mind with the most wholesome effect. + +Then I dashed across the floor of the barn and leaped upon the hay bales +as a preliminary to climbing up the sides to the first rafter. It was +far more difficult than in my dream. Twice I slipped back into the hay, +and as I scrambled up for the third time I saw that Shorthouse, who thus +far had made no sound or movement, was now busily doing something with +his hands upon the beam. He was at its further end, and there must have +been fully fifteen feet between us. Yet I saw plainly what he was doing; +he was fastening the rope to the rafter. _The other end, I saw, was +already round his neck!_ + +This gave me at once the necessary strength, and in a second I had swung +myself on to a beam, crying aloud with all the authority I could put +into my voice-- + +"You fool, man! What in the world are you trying to do? Come down at +once!" + +My energetic actions and words combined had an immediate effect upon him +for which I blessed Heaven; for he looked up from his horrid task, +stared hard at me for a second or two, and then came wriggling along +like a great cat to intercept me. He came by a series of leaps and +bounds and at an astonishing pace, and the way he moved somehow inspired +me with a fresh horror, for it did not seem the natural movement of a +human being at all, but more, as I have said, like that of some lithe +wild animal. + +He was close upon me. I had no clear idea of what exactly I meant to do. +I could see his face plainly now; he was grinning cruelly; the eyes were +positively luminous, and the menacing expression of the mouth was most +distressing to look upon. Otherwise it was the face of a chalk man, +white and dead, with all the semblance of the living human drawn out of +it. Between his teeth he held my clasp knife, which he must have taken +from me in my sleep, and with a flash I recalled his anxiety to know +exactly which pocket it was in. + +"Drop that knife!" I shouted at him, "and drop after it yourself--" + +"Don't you dare to stop me!" he hissed, the breath coming between his +lips across the knife that he held in his teeth. "Nothing in the world +can stop me now--I have promised--and I must do it. I can't hold out any +longer." + +"Then drop the knife and I'll help you," I shouted back in his face. "I +promise--" + +"No use," he cried, laughing a little, "I must do it and you can't stop +me." + +I heard a sound of laughter, too, somewhere in the air behind me. The +next second Shorthouse came at me with a single bound. + +To this day I cannot quite tell how it happened. It is still a wild +confusion and a fever of horror in my mind, but from somewhere I drew +more than my usual allowance of strength, and before he could well have +realised what I meant to do, I had his throat between my fingers. He +opened his teeth and the knife dropped at once, for I gave him a squeeze +he need never forget. Before, my muscles had felt like so much soaked +paper; now they recovered their natural strength, and more besides. I +managed to work ourselves along the rafter until the hay was beneath us, +and then, completely exhausted, I let go my hold and we swung round +together and dropped on to the hay, he clawing at me in the air even as +we fell. + +The struggle that began by my fighting for his life ended in a wild +effort to save my own, for Shorthouse was quite beside himself, and had +no idea what he was doing. Indeed, he has always averred that he +remembers nothing of the entire night's experiences after the time when +he first woke me from sleep. A sort of deadly mist settled over him, he +declares, and he lost all sense of his own identity. The rest was a +blank until he came to his senses under a mass of hay with me on the top +of him. + +It was the hay that saved us, first by breaking the fall and then by +impeding his movements so that I was able to prevent his choking me to +death. + + + + +THE WOOD OF THE DEAD + + +One summer, in my wanderings with a knapsack, I was at luncheon in the +room of a wayside inn in the western country, when the door opened and +there entered an old rustic, who crossed close to my end of the table +and sat himself down very quietly in the seat by the bow window. We +exchanged glances, or, properly speaking, nods, for at the moment I did +not actually raise my eyes to his face, so concerned was I with the +important business of satisfying an appetite gained by tramping twelve +miles over a difficult country. + +The fine warm rain of seven o'clock, which had since risen in a kind of +luminous mist about the tree tops, now floated far overhead in a deep +blue sky, and the day was settling down into a blaze of golden light. It +was one of those days peculiar to Somerset and North Devon, when the +orchards shine and the meadows seem to add a radiance of their own, so +brilliantly soft are the colourings of grass and foliage. + +The inn-keeper's daughter, a little maiden with a simple country +loveliness, presently entered with a foaming pewter mug, enquired after +my welfare, and went out again. Apparently she had not noticed the old +man sitting in the settle by the bow window, nor had he, for his part, +so much as once turned his head in our direction. + +Under ordinary circumstances I should probably have given no thought to +this other occupant of the room; but the fact that it was supposed to be +reserved for my private use, and the singular thing that he sat looking +aimlessly out of the window, with no attempt to engage me in +conversation, drew my eyes more than once somewhat curiously upon him, +and I soon caught myself wondering why he sat there so silently, and +always with averted head. + +He was, I saw, a rather bent old man in rustic dress, and the skin of +his face was wrinkled like that of an apple; corduroy trousers were +caught up with a string below the knee, and he wore a sort of brown +fustian jacket that was very much faded. His thin hand rested upon a +stoutish stick. He wore no hat and carried none, and I noticed that his +head, covered with silvery hair, was finely shaped and gave the +impression of something noble. + +Though rather piqued by his studied disregard of my presence, I came to +the conclusion that he probably had something to do with the little +hostel and had a perfect right to use this room with freedom, and I +finished my luncheon without breaking the silence and then took the +settle opposite to smoke a pipe before going on my way. + +Through the open window came the scents of the blossoming fruit trees; +the orchard was drenched in sunshine and the branches danced lazily in +the breeze; the grass below fairly shone with white and yellow daisies, +and the red roses climbing in profusion over the casement mingled their +perfume with the sweetly penetrating odour of the sea. + +It was a place to dawdle in, to lie and dream away a whole afternoon, +watching the sleepy butterflies and listening to the chorus of birds +which seemed to fill every corner of the sky. Indeed, I was already +debating in my mind whether to linger and enjoy it all instead of taking +the strenuous pathway over the hills, when the old rustic in the settle +opposite suddenly turned his face towards me for the first time and +began to speak. + +His voice had a quiet dreamy note in it that was quite in harmony with +the day and the scene, but it sounded far away, I thought, almost as +though it came to me from outside where the shadows were weaving their +eternal tissue of dreams upon the garden floor. Moreover, there was no +trace in it of the rough quality one might naturally have expected, and, +now that I saw the full face of the speaker for the first time, I noted +with something like a start that the deep, gentle eyes seemed far more +in keeping with the timbre of the voice than with the rough and very +countrified appearance of the clothes and manner. His voice set pleasant +waves of sound in motion towards me, and the actual words, if I remember +rightly, were-- + +"You are a stranger in these parts?" or "Is not this part of the country +strange to you?" + +There was no "sir," nor any outward and visible sign of the deference +usually paid by real country folk to the town-bred visitor, but in its +place a gentleness, almost a sweetness, of polite sympathy that was far +more of a compliment than either. + +I answered that I was wandering on foot through a part of the country +that was wholly new to me, and that I was surprised not to find a place +of such idyllic loveliness marked upon my map. + +"I have lived here all my life," he said, with a sigh, "and am never +tired of coming back to it again." + +"Then you no longer live in the immediate neighbourhood?" + +"I have moved," he answered briefly, adding after a pause in which his +eyes seemed to wander wistfully to the wealth of blossoms beyond the +window; "but I am almost sorry, for nowhere else have I found the +sunshine lie so warmly, the flowers smell so sweetly, or the winds and +streams make such tender music. . . ." + +His voice died away into a thin stream of sound that lost itself in the +rustle of the rose-leaves climbing in at the window, for he turned his +head away from me as he spoke and looked out into the garden. But it was +impossible to conceal my surprise, and I raised my eyes in frank +astonishment on hearing so poetic an utterance from such a figure of a +man, though at the same time realising that it was not in the least +inappropriate, and that, in fact, no other sort of expression could have +properly been expected from him. + +"I am sure you are right," I answered at length, when it was clear he +had ceased speaking; "or there is something of enchantment here--of real +fairy-like enchantment--that makes me think of the visions of childhood +days, before one knew anything of--of--" + +I had been oddly drawn into his vein of speech, some inner force +compelling me. But here the spell passed and I could not catch the +thoughts that had a moment before opened a long vista before my inner +vision. + +"To tell you the truth," I concluded lamely, "the place fascinates me +and I am in two minds about going further--" + +Even at this stage I remember thinking it odd that I should be talking +like this with a stranger whom I met in a country inn, for it has always +been one of my failings that to strangers my manner is brief to +surliness. It was as though we were figures meeting in a dream, speaking +without sound, obeying laws not operative in the everyday working world, +and about to play with a new scale of space and time perhaps. But my +astonishment passed quickly into an entirely different feeling when I +became aware that the old man opposite had turned his head from the +window again, and was regarding me with eyes so bright they seemed +almost to shine with an inner flame. His gaze was fixed upon my face +with an intense ardour, and his whole manner had suddenly become alert +and concentrated. There was something about him I now felt for the first +time that made little thrills of excitement run up and down my back. I +met his look squarely, but with an inward tremor. + +"Stay, then, a little while longer," he said in a much lower and deeper +voice than before; "stay, and I will teach you something of the purpose +of my coming." + +He stopped abruptly. I was conscious of a decided shiver. + +"You have a special purpose then--in coming back?" I asked, hardly +knowing what I was saying. + +"To call away someone," he went on in the same thrilling voice, "someone +who is not quite ready to come, but who is needed elsewhere for a +worthier purpose." There was a sadness in his manner that mystified me +more than ever. + +"You mean--?" I began, with an unaccountable access of trembling. + +"I have come for someone who must soon move, even as I have moved." + +He looked me through and through with a dreadfully piercing gaze, but I +met his eyes with a full straight stare, trembling though I was, and I +was aware that something stirred within me that had never stirred +before, though for the life of me I could not have put a name to it, or +have analysed its nature. Something lifted and rolled away. For one +single second I understood clearly that the past and the future exist +actually side by side in one immense Present; that it was _I_ who moved +to and fro among shifting, protean appearances. + +The old man dropped his eyes from my face, and the momentary glimpse of +a mightier universe passed utterly away. Reason regained its sway over a +dull, limited kingdom. + +"Come to-night," I heard the old man say, "come to me to-night into the +Wood of the Dead. Come at midnight--" + +Involuntarily I clutched the arm of the settle for support, for I then +felt that I was speaking with someone who knew more of the real things +that are and will be, than I could ever know while in the body, working +through the ordinary channels of sense--and this curious half-promise of +a partial lifting of the veil had its undeniable effect upon me. + +The breeze from the sea had died away outside, and the blossoms were +still. A yellow butterfly floated lazily past the window. The song of +the birds hushed--I smelt the sea--I smelt the perfume of heated summer +air rising from fields and flowers, the ineffable scents of June and of +the long days of the year--and with it, from countless green meadows +beyond, came the hum of myriad summer life, children's voices, sweet +pipings, and the sound of water falling. + +I knew myself to be on the threshold of a new order of experience--of an +ecstasy. Something drew me forth with a sense of inexpressible yearning +towards the being of this strange old man in the window seat, and for a +moment I knew what it was to taste a mighty and wonderful sensation, and +to touch the highest pinnacle of joy I have ever known. It lasted for +less than a second, and was gone; but in that brief instant of time the +same terrible lucidity came to me that had already shown me how the past +and future exist in the present, and I realised and understood that +pleasure and pain are one and the same force, for the joy I had just +experienced included also all the pain I ever had felt, or ever could +feel. . . . + +The sunshine grew to dazzling radiance, faded, passed away. The shadows +paused in their dance upon the grass, deepened a moment, and then melted +into air. The flowers of the fruit trees laughed with their little +silvery laughter as the wind sighed over their radiant eyes the old, +old tale of its personal love. Once or twice a voice called my name. A +wonderful sensation of lightness and power began to steal over me. + +Suddenly the door opened and the inn-keeper's daughter came in. By all +ordinary standards, her's was a charming country loveliness, born of the +stars and wild-flowers, of moonlight shining through autumn mists upon +the river and the fields; yet, by contrast with the higher order of +beauty I had just momentarily been in touch with, she seemed almost +ugly. How dull her eyes, how thin her voice, how vapid her smile, and +insipid her whole presentment. + +For a moment she stood between me and the occupant of the window seat +while I counted out the small change for my meal and for her services; +but when, an instant later, she moved aside, I saw that the settle was +empty and that there was no longer anyone in the room but our two +selves. + +This discovery was no shock to me; indeed, I had almost expected it, and +the man had gone just as a figure goes out of a dream, causing no +surprise and leaving me as part and parcel of the same dream without +breaking of continuity. But, as soon as I had paid my bill and thus +resumed in very practical fashion the thread of my normal consciousness, +I turned to the girl and asked her if she knew the old man who had been +sitting in the window seat, and what he had meant by the Wood of the +Dead. + +The maiden started visibly, glancing quickly round the empty room, but +answering simply that she had seen no one. I described him in great +detail, and then, as the description grew clearer, she turned a little +pale under her pretty sunburn and said very gravely that it must have +been the ghost. + +"Ghost! What ghost?" + +"Oh, the village ghost," she said quietly, coming closer to my chair +with a little nervous movement of genuine alarm, and adding in a lower +voice, "He comes before a death, they say!" + +It was not difficult to induce the girl to talk, and the story she told +me, shorn of the superstition that had obviously gathered with the years +round the memory of a strangely picturesque figure, was an interesting +and peculiar one. + +The inn, she said, was originally a farmhouse, occupied by a yeoman +farmer, evidently of a superior, if rather eccentric, character, who had +been very poor until he reached old age, when a son died suddenly in +the Colonies and left him an unexpected amount of money, almost a +fortune. + +The old man thereupon altered no whit his simple manner of living, but +devoted his income entirely to the improvement of the village and to the +assistance of its inhabitants; he did this quite regardless of his +personal likes and dislikes, as if one and all were absolutely alike to +him, objects of a genuine and impersonal benevolence. People had always +been a little afraid of the man, not understanding his eccentricities, +but the simple force of this love for humanity changed all that in a +very short space of time; and before he died he came to be known as the +Father of the Village and was held in great love and veneration by all. + +A short time before his end, however, he began to act queerly. He spent +his money just as usefully and wisely, but the shock of sudden wealth +after a life of poverty, people said, had unsettled his mind. He claimed +to see things that others did not see, to hear voices, and to have +visions. Evidently, he was not of the harmless, foolish, visionary +order, but a man of character and of great personal force, for the +people became divided in their opinions, and the vicar, good man, +regarded and treated him as a "special case." For many, his name and +atmosphere became charged almost with a spiritual influence that was +not of the best. People quoted texts about him; kept when possible out +of his way, and avoided his house after dark. None understood him, but +though the majority loved him, an element of dread and mystery became +associated with his name, chiefly owing to the ignorant gossip of the +few. + +A grove of pine trees behind the farm--the girl pointed them out to me +on the slope of the hill--he said was the Wood of the Dead, because just +before anyone died in the village he saw them walk into that wood, +singing. None who went in ever came out again. He often mentioned the +names to his wife, who usually published them to all the inhabitants +within an hour of her husband's confidence; and it was found that the +people he had seen enter the wood--died. On warm summer nights he would +sometimes take an old stick and wander out, hatless, under the pines, +for he loved this wood, and used to say he met all his old friends +there, and would one day walk in there never to return. His wife tried +to break him gently off this habit, but he always had his own way; and +once, when she followed and found him standing under a great pine in the +thickest portion of the grove, talking earnestly to someone she could +not see, he turned and rebuked her very gently, but in such a way that +she never repeated the experiment, saying-- + +"You should never interrupt me, Mary, when I am talking with the others; +for they teach me, remember, wonderful things, and I must learn all I +can before I go to join them." + +This story went like wild-fire through the village, increasing with +every repetition, until at length everyone was able to give an accurate +description of the great veiled figures the woman declared she had seen +moving among the trees where her husband stood. The innocent pine-grove +now became positively haunted, and the title of "Wood of the Dead" clung +naturally as if it had been applied to it in the ordinary course of +events by the compilers of the Ordnance Survey. + +On the evening of his ninetieth birthday the old man went up to his wife +and kissed her. His manner was loving, and very gentle, and there was +something about him besides, she declared afterwards, that made her +slightly in awe of him and feel that he was almost more of a spirit than +a man. + +He kissed her tenderly on both cheeks, but his eyes seemed to look +right through her as he spoke. + +"Dearest wife," he said, "I am saying good-bye to you, for I am now +going into the Wood of the Dead, and I shall not return. Do not follow +me, or send to search, but be ready soon to come upon the same journey +yourself." + +The good woman burst into tears and tried to hold him, but he easily +slipped from her hands, and she was afraid to follow him. Slowly she saw +him cross the field in the sunshine, and then enter the cool shadows of +the grove, where he disappeared from her sight. + +That same night, much later, she woke to find him lying peacefully by +her side in bed, with one arm stretched out towards her, _dead_. Her +story was half believed, half doubted at the time, but in a very few +years afterwards it evidently came to be accepted by all the +countryside. A funeral service was held to which the people flocked in +great numbers, and everyone approved of the sentiment which led the +widow to add the words, "The Father of the Village," after the usual +texts which appeared upon the stone over his grave. + +This, then, was the story I pieced together of the village ghost as the +little inn-keeper's daughter told it to me that afternoon in the +parlour of the inn. + +"But you're not the first to say you've seen him," the girl concluded; +"and your description is just what we've always heard, and that window, +they say, was just where he used to sit and think, and think, when he +was alive, and sometimes, they say, to cry for hours together." + +"And would you feel afraid if you had seen him?" I asked, for the girl +seemed strangely moved and interested in the whole story. + +"I think so," she answered timidly. "Surely, if he spoke to me. He did +speak to _you_, didn't he, sir?" she asked after a slight pause. + +"He said he had come for someone." + +"Come for someone," she repeated. "Did he say--" she went on +falteringly. + +"No, he did not say for whom," I said quickly, noticing the sudden +shadow on her face and the tremulous voice. + +"Are you really sure, sir?" + +"Oh, quite sure," I answered cheerfully. "I did not even ask him." The +girl looked at me steadily for nearly a whole minute as though there +were many things she wished to tell me or to ask. But she said nothing, +and presently picked up her tray from the table and walked slowly out +of the room. + +Instead of keeping to my original purpose and pushing on to the next +village over the hills, I ordered a room to be prepared for me at the +inn, and that afternoon I spent wandering about the fields and lying +under the fruit trees, watching the white clouds sailing out over the +sea. The Wood of the Dead I surveyed from a distance, but in the village +I visited the stone erected to the memory of the "Father of the +Village"--who was thus, evidently, no mythical personage--and saw also +the monuments of his fine unselfish spirit: the schoolhouse he built, +the library, the home for the aged poor, and the tiny hospital. + +That night, as the clock in the church tower was striking half-past +eleven, I stealthily left the inn and crept through the dark orchard and +over the hayfield in the direction of the hill whose southern slope was +clothed with the Wood of the Dead. A genuine interest impelled me to the +adventure, but I also was obliged to confess to a certain sinking in my +heart as I stumbled along over the field in the darkness, for I was +approaching what might prove to be the birth-place of a real country +myth, and a spot already lifted by the imaginative thoughts of a +considerable number of people into the region of the haunted and +ill-omened. + +The inn lay below me, and all round it the village clustered in a soft +black shadow unrelieved by a single light. The night was moonless, yet +distinctly luminous, for the stars crowded the sky. The silence of deep +slumber was everywhere; so still, indeed, that every time my foot kicked +against a stone I thought the sound must be heard below in the village +and waken the sleepers. + +I climbed the hill slowly, thinking chiefly of the strange story of the +noble old man who had seized the opportunity to do good to his fellows +the moment it came his way, and wondering why the causes that operate +ceaselessly behind human life did not always select such admirable +instruments. Once or twice a night-bird circled swiftly over my head, +but the bats had long since gone to rest, and there was no other sign of +life stirring. + +Then, suddenly, with a singular thrill of emotion, I saw the first trees +of the Wood of the Dead rise in front of me in a high black wall. Their +crests stood up like giant spears against the starry sky; and though +there was no perceptible movement of the air on my cheek I heard a +faint, rushing sound among their branches as the night breeze passed to +and fro over their countless little needles. A remote, hushed murmur +rose overhead and died away again almost immediately; for in these trees +the wind seems to be never absolutely at rest, and on the calmest day +there is always a sort of whispering music among their branches. + +For a moment I hesitated on the edge of this dark wood, and listened +intently. Delicate perfumes of earth and bark stole out to meet me. +Impenetrable darkness faced me. Only the consciousness that I was +obeying an order, strangely given, and including a mighty privilege, +enabled me to find the courage to go forward and step in boldly under +the trees. + +Instantly the shadows closed in upon me and "something" came forward to +meet me from the centre of the darkness. It would be easy enough to meet +my imagination half-way with fact, and say that a cold hand grasped my +own and led me by invisible paths into the unknown depths of the grove; +but at any rate, without stumbling, and always with the positive +knowledge that I was going straight towards the desired object, I +pressed on confidently and securely into the wood. So dark was it that, +at first, not a single star-beam pierced the roof of branches overhead; +and, as we moved forward side by side, the trees shifted silently past +us in long lines, row upon row, squadron upon squadron, like the units +of a vast, soundless army. + +And, at length, we came to a comparatively open space where the trees +halted upon us for a while, and, looking up, I saw the white river of +the sky beginning to yield to the influence of a new light that now +seemed spreading swiftly across the heavens. + +"It is the dawn coming," said the voice at my side that I certainly +recognised, but which seemed almost like a whispering from the trees, +"and we are now in the heart of the Wood of the Dead." + +We seated ourselves on a moss-covered boulder and waited the coming of +the sun. With marvellous swiftness, it seemed to me, the light in the +east passed into the radiance of early morning, and when the wind awoke +and began to whisper in the tree tops, the first rays of the risen sun +fell between the trunks and rested in a circle of gold at our feet. + +"Now, come with me," whispered my companion in the same deep voice, "for +time has no existence here, and that which I would show you is already +_there_!" + +We trod gently and silently over the soft pine needles. Already the sun +was high over our heads, and the shadows of the trees coiled closely +about their feet. The wood became denser again, but occasionally we +passed through little open bits where we could smell the hot sunshine +and the dry, baked pine needles. Then, presently, we came to the edge of +the grove, and I saw a hayfield lying in the blaze of day, and two +horses basking lazily with switching tails in the shafts of a laden +hay-waggon. + +So complete and vivid was the sense of reality, that I remember the +grateful realisation of the cool shade where we sat and looked out upon +the hot world beyond. + +The last pitchfork had tossed up its fragrant burden, and the great +horses were already straining in the shafts after the driver, as he +walked slowly in front with one hand upon their bridles. He was a +stalwart fellow, with sunburned neck and hands. Then, for the first +time, I noticed, perched aloft upon the trembling throne of hay, the +figure of a slim young girl. I could not see her face, but her brown +hair escaped in disorder from a white sun-bonnet, and her still browner +hands held a well-worn hay rake. She was laughing and talking with the +driver, and he, from time to time, cast up at her ardent glances of +admiration--glances that won instant smiles and soft blushes in +response. + +The cart presently turned into the roadway that skirted the edge of the +wood where we were sitting. I watched the scene with intense interest +and became so much absorbed in it that I quite forgot the manifold, +strange steps by which I was permitted to become a spectator. + +"Come down and walk with me," cried the young fellow, stopping a moment +in front of the horses and opening wide his arms. "Jump! and I'll catch +you!" + +"Oh, oh," she laughed, and her voice sounded to me as the happiest, +merriest laughter I had ever heard from a girl's throat. "Oh, oh! that's +all very well. But remember I'm Queen of the Hay, and I must ride!" + +"Then I must come and ride beside you," he cried, and began at once to +climb up by way of the driver's seat. But, with a peal of silvery +laughter, she slipped down easily over the back of the hay to escape +him, and ran a little way along the road. I could see her quite clearly, +and noticed the charming, natural grace of her movements, and the +loving expression in her eyes as she looked over her shoulder to make +sure he was following. Evidently, she did not wish to escape for long, +certainly not for ever. + +In two strides the big, brown swain was after her, leaving the horses to +do as they pleased. Another second and his arms would have caught the +slender waist and pressed the little body to his heart. But, just at +that instant, the old man beside me uttered a peculiar cry. It was low +and thrilling, and it went through me like a sharp sword. + +HE had called her by her own name--and she had heard. + +For a second she halted, glancing back with frightened eyes. Then, with +a brief cry of despair, the girl swerved aside and dived in swiftly +among the shadows of the trees. + +But the young man saw the sudden movement and cried out to her +passionately-- + +"Not that way, my love! Not that way! It's the Wood of the Dead!" + +She threw a laughing glance over her shoulder at him, and the wind +caught her hair and drew it out in a brown cloud under the sun. But the +next minute she was close beside me, lying on the breast of my +companion, and I was certain I heard the words repeatedly uttered with +many sighs: "Father, you called, and I have come. And I come willingly, +for I am very, very tired." + +At any rate, so the words sounded to me, and mingled with them I seemed +to catch the answer in that deep, thrilling whisper I already knew: "And +you shall sleep, my child, sleep for a long, long time, until it is time +for you to begin the journey again." + +In that brief second of time I had recognised the face and voice of the +inn-keeper's daughter, but the next minute a dreadful wail broke from +the lips of the young man, and the sky grew suddenly as dark as night, +the wind rose and began to toss the branches about us, and the whole +scene was swallowed up in a wave of utter blackness. + +Again the chill fingers seemed to seize my hand, and I was guided by the +way I had come to the edge of the wood, and crossing the hayfield still +slumbering in the starlight, I crept back to the inn and went to bed. + +A year later I happened to be in the same part of the country, and the +memory of the strange summer vision returned to me with the added +softness of distance. I went to the old village and had tea under the +same orchard trees at the same inn. + +But the little maid of the inn did not show her face, and I took +occasion to enquire of her father as to her welfare and her whereabouts. + +"Married, no doubt," I laughed, but with a strange feeling that clutched +at my heart. + +"No, sir," replied the inn-keeper sadly, "not married--though she was +just going to be--but dead. She got a sunstroke in the hayfields, just a +few days after you were here, if I remember rightly, and she was gone +from us in less than a week." + + + + +SMITH: AN EPISODE IN A LODGING-HOUSE + + +"When I was a medical student," began the doctor, half turning towards +his circle of listeners in the firelight, "I came across one or two very +curious human beings; but there was one fellow I remember particularly, +for he caused me the most vivid, and I think the most uncomfortable, +emotions I have ever known. + +"For many months I knew Smith only by name as the occupant of the floor +above me. Obviously his name meant nothing to me. Moreover I was busy +with lectures, reading, cliniques and the like, and had little leisure +to devise plans for scraping acquaintance with any of the other lodgers +in the house. Then chance brought us curiously together, and this fellow +Smith left a deep impression upon me as the result of our first meeting. +At the time the strength of this first impression seemed quite +inexplicable to me, but looking back at the episode now from a +stand-point of greater knowledge I judge the fact to have been that he +stirred my curiosity to an unusual degree, and at the same time awakened +my sense of horror--whatever that may be in a medical student--about as +deeply and permanently as these two emotions were capable of being +stirred at all in the particular system and set of nerves called ME. + +"How he knew that I was interested in the study of languages was +something I could never explain, but one day, quite unannounced, he came +quietly into my room in the evening and asked me point-blank if I knew +enough Hebrew to help him in the pronunciation of certain words. + +"He caught me along the line of least resistance, and I was greatly +flattered to be able to give him the desired information; but it was +only when he had thanked me and was gone that I realised I had been in +the presence of an unusual individuality. For the life of me I could not +quite seize and label the peculiarities of what I felt to be a very +striking personality, but it was borne in upon me that he was a man +apart from his fellows, a mind that followed a line leading away from +ordinary human intercourse and human interests, and into regions that +left in his atmosphere something remote, rarefied, chilling. + +"The moment he was gone I became conscious of two things--an intense +curiosity to know more about this man and what his real interests were, +and secondly, the fact that my skin was crawling and that my hair had a +tendency to rise." + +The doctor paused a moment here to puff hard at his pipe, which, +however, had gone out beyond recall without the assistance of a match; +and in the deep silence, which testified to the genuine interest of his +listeners, someone poked the fire up into a little blaze, and one or two +others glanced over their shoulders into the dark distances of the big +hall. + +"On looking back," he went on, watching the momentary flames in the +grate, "I see a short, thick-set man of perhaps forty-five, with immense +shoulders and small, slender hands. The contrast was noticeable, for I +remember thinking that such a giant frame and such slim finger bones +hardly belonged together. His head, too, was large and very long, the +head of an idealist beyond all question, yet with an unusually strong +development of the jaw and chin. Here again was a singular +contradiction, though I am better able now to appreciate its full +meaning, with a greater experience in judging the values of +physiognomy. For this meant, of course, an enthusiastic idealism +balanced and kept in check by will and judgment--elements usually +deficient in dreamers and visionaries. + +"At any rate, here was a being with probably a very wide range of +possibilities, a machine with a pendulum that most likely had an unusual +length of swing. + +"The man's hair was exceedingly fine, and the lines about his nose and +mouth were cut as with a delicate steel instrument in wax. His eyes I +have left to the last. They were large and quite changeable, not in +colour only, but in character, size, and shape. Occasionally they seemed +the eyes of someone else, if you can understand what I mean, and at the +same time, in their shifting shades of blue, green, and a nameless sort +of dark grey, there was a sinister light in them that lent to the whole +face an aspect almost alarming. Moreover, they were the most luminous +optics I think I have ever seen in any human being. + +"There, then, at the risk of a wearisome description, is Smith as I saw +him for the first time that winter's evening in my shabby student's +rooms in Edinburgh. And yet the real part of him, of course, I have +left untouched, for it is both indescribable and un-get-atable. I have +spoken already of an atmosphere of warning and aloofness he carried +about with him. It is impossible further to analyse the series of little +shocks his presence always communicated to my being; but there was that +about him which made me instantly on the _qui vive_ in his presence, +every nerve alert, every sense strained and on the watch. I do not mean +that he deliberately suggested danger, but rather that he brought forces +in his wake which automatically warned the nervous centres of my system +to be on their guard and alert. + +"Since the days of my first acquaintance with this man I have lived +through other experiences and have seen much I cannot pretend to explain +or understand; but, so far in my life, I have only once come across a +human being who suggested a disagreeable familiarity with unholy things, +and who made me feel uncanny and 'creepy' in his presence; and that +unenviable individual was Mr. Smith. + +"What his occupation was during the day I never knew. I think he slept +until the sun set. No one ever saw him on the stairs, or heard him move +in his room during the day. He was a creature of the shadows, who +apparently preferred darkness to light. Our landlady either knew +nothing, or would say nothing. At any rate she found no fault, and I +have since wondered often by what magic this fellow was able to convert +a common landlady of a common lodging-house into a discreet and +uncommunicative person. This alone was a sign of genius of some sort. + +"'He's been here with me for years--long before you come, an' I don't +interfere or ask no questions of what doesn't concern me, as long as +people pays their rent,' was the only remark on the subject that I ever +succeeded in winning from that quarter, and it certainly told me nothing +nor gave me any encouragement to ask for further information. + +"Examinations, however, and the general excitement of a medical +student's life for a time put Mr. Smith completely out of my head. For a +long period he did not call upon me again, and for my part, I felt no +courage to return his unsolicited visit. + +"Just then, however, there came a change in the fortunes of those who +controlled my very limited income, and I was obliged to give up my +ground-floor and move aloft to more modest chambers on the top of the +house. Here I was directly over Smith, and had to pass his door to +reach my own. + +"It so happened that about this time I was frequently called out at all +hours of the night for the maternity cases which a fourth-year student +takes at a certain period of his studies, and on returning from one of +these visits at about two o'clock in the morning I was surprised to hear +the sound of voices as I passed his door. A peculiar sweet odour, too, +not unlike the smell of incense, penetrated into the passage. + +"I went upstairs very quietly, wondering what was going on there at this +hour of the morning. To my knowledge Smith never had visitors. For a +moment I hesitated outside the door with one foot on the stairs. All my +interest in this strange man revived, and my curiosity rose to a point +not far from action. At last I might learn something of the habits of +this lover of the night and the darkness. + +"The sound of voices was plainly audible, Smith's predominating so much +that I never could catch more than points of sound from the other, +penetrating now and then the steady stream of his voice. Not a single +word reached me, at least, not a word that I could understand, though +the voice was loud and distinct, and it was only afterwards that I +realised he must have been speaking in a foreign language. + +"The sound of footsteps, too, was equally distinct. Two persons were +moving about the room, passing and repassing the door, one of them a +light, agile person, and the other ponderous and somewhat awkward. +Smith's voice went on incessantly with its odd, monotonous droning, now +loud, now soft, as he crossed and re-crossed the floor. The other person +was also on the move, but in a different and less regular fashion, for I +heard rapid steps that seemed to end sometimes in stumbling, and quick +sudden movements that brought up with a violent lurching against the +wall or furniture. + +"As I listened to Smith's voice, moreover, I began to feel afraid. There +was something in the sound that made me feel intuitively he was in a +tight place, and an impulse stirred faintly in me--very faintly, I +admit--to knock at the door and inquire if he needed help. + +"But long before the impulse could translate itself into an act, or even +before it had been properly weighed and considered by the mind, I heard +a voice close beside me in the air, a sort of hushed whisper which I am +certain was Smith speaking, though the sound did not seem to have come +to me through the door. It was close in my very ear, as though he stood +beside me, and it gave me such a start, that I clutched the banisters to +save myself from stepping backwards and making a clatter on the stairs. + +"'There is nothing you can do to help me,' it said distinctly, 'and you +will be much safer in your own room.' + +"I am ashamed to this day of the pace at which I covered the flight of +stairs in the darkness to the top floor, and of the shaking hand with +which I lit my candles and bolted the door. But, there it is, just as it +happened. + +"This midnight episode, so odd and yet so trivial in itself, fired me +with more curiosity than ever about my fellow-lodger. It also made me +connect him in my mind with a sense of fear and distrust. I never saw +him, yet I was often, and uncomfortably, aware of his presence in the +upper regions of that gloomy lodging-house. Smith and his secret mode of +life and mysterious pursuits, somehow contrived to awaken in my being a +line of reflection that disturbed my comfortable condition of ignorance. +I never saw him, as I have said, and exchanged no sort of communication +with him, yet it seemed to me that his mind was in contact with mine, +and some of the strange forces of his atmosphere filtered through into +my being and disturbed my equilibrium. Those upper floors became haunted +for me after dark, and, though outwardly our lives never came into +contact, I became unwillingly involved in certain pursuits on which his +mind was centred. I felt that he was somehow making use of me against my +will, and by methods which passed my comprehension. + +"I was at that time, moreover, in the heavy, unquestioning state of +materialism which is common to medical students when they begin to +understand something of the human anatomy and nervous system, and jump +at once to the conclusion that they control the universe and hold in +their forceps the last word of life and death. I 'knew it all,' and +regarded a belief in anything beyond matter as the wanderings of weak, +or at best, untrained minds. And this condition of mind, of course, +added to the strength of this upsetting fear which emanated from the +floor below and began slowly to take possession of me. + +"Though I kept no notes of the subsequent events in this matter, they +made too deep an impression for me ever to forget the sequence in which +they occurred. Without difficulty I can recall the next step in the +adventure with Smith, for adventure it rapidly grew to be." + +The doctor stopped a moment and laid his pipe on the table behind him +before continuing. The fire had burned low, and no one stirred to poke +it. The silence in the great hall was so deep that when the speaker's +pipe touched the table the sound woke audible echoes at the far end +among the shadows. + +"One evening, while I was reading, the door of my room opened and Smith +came in. He made no attempt at ceremony. It was after ten o'clock and I +was tired, but the presence of the man immediately galvanised me into +activity. My attempts at ordinary politeness he thrust on one side at +once, and began asking me to vocalise, and then pronounce for him, +certain Hebrew words; and when this was done he abruptly inquired if I +was not the fortunate possessor of a very rare Rabbinical Treatise, +which he named. + +"How he knew that I possessed this book puzzled me exceedingly; but I +was still more surprised to see him cross the room and take it out of +my book-shelf almost before I had had time to answer in the affirmative. +Evidently he knew exactly where it was kept. This excited my curiosity +beyond all bounds, and I immediately began asking him questions; and +though, out of sheer respect for the man, I put them very delicately to +him, and almost by way of mere conversation, he had only one reply for +the lot. He would look up at me from the pages of the book with an +expression of complete comprehension on his extraordinary features, +would bow his head a little and say very gravely-- + +"'That, of course, is a perfectly proper question,'--which was +absolutely all I could ever get out of him. + +"On this particular occasion he stayed with me perhaps ten or fifteen +minutes. Then he went quickly downstairs to his room with my Hebrew +Treatise in his hand, and I heard him close and bolt his door. + +"But a few moments later, before I had time to settle down to my book +again, or to recover from the surprise his visit had caused me, I heard +the door open, and there stood Smith once again beside my chair. He made +no excuse for his second interruption, but bent his head down to the +level of my reading lamp and peered across the flame straight into my +eyes. + +"'I hope,' he whispered, 'I hope you are never disturbed at night?' + +"'Eh?' I stammered, 'disturbed at night? Oh no, thanks, at least, not +that I know of--' + +"'I'm glad,' he replied gravely, appearing not to notice my confusion +and surprise at his question. 'But, remember, should it ever be the +case, please let me know at once.' + +"And he was gone down the stairs and into his room again. + +"For some minutes I sat reflecting upon his strange behaviour. He was +not mad, I argued, but was the victim of some harmless delusion that had +gradually grown upon him as a result of his solitary mode of life; and +from the books he used, I judged that it had something to do with +mediæval magic, or some system of ancient Hebrew mysticism. The words he +asked me to pronounce for him were probably 'Words of Power,' which, +when uttered with the vehemence of a strong will behind them, were +supposed to produce physical results, or set up vibrations in one's own +inner being that had the effect of a partial lifting of the veil. + +"I sat thinking about the man, and his way of living, and the probable +effects in the long-run of his dangerous experiments, and I can recall +perfectly well the sensation of disappointment that crept over me when I +realised that I had labelled his particular form of aberration, and that +my curiosity would therefore no longer be excited. + +"For some time I had been sitting alone with these reflections--it may +have been ten minutes or it may have been half an hour--when I was +aroused from my reverie by the knowledge that someone was again in the +room standing close beside my chair. My first thought was that Smith had +come back again in his swift, unaccountable manner, but almost at the +same moment I realised that this could not be the case at all. For the +door faced my position, and it certainly had not been opened again. + +"Yet, someone was in the room, moving cautiously to and fro, watching +me, almost touching me. I was as sure of it as I was of myself, and +though at the moment I do not think I was actually afraid, I am bound to +admit that a certain weakness came over me and that I felt that strange +disinclination for action which is probably the beginning of the +horrible paralysis of real terror. I should have been glad to hide +myself, if that had been possible, to cower into a corner, or behind a +door, or anywhere so that I could not be watched and observed. + +"But, overcoming my nervousness with an effort of the will, I got up +quickly out of my chair and held the reading lamp aloft so that it shone +into all the corners like a searchlight. + +"The room was utterly empty! It was utterly empty, at least, to the +_eye_, but to the nerves, and especially to that combination of sense +perception which is made up by all the senses acting together, and by no +one in particular, there was a person standing there at my very elbow. + +"I say 'person,' for I can think of no appropriate word. For, if it +_was_ a human being, I can only affirm that I had the overwhelming +conviction that it was _not_, but that it was some form of life wholly +unknown to me both as to its essence and its nature. A sensation of +gigantic force and power came with it, and I remember vividly to this +day my terror on realising that I was close to an invisible being who +could crush me as easily as I could crush a fly, and who could see my +every movement while itself remaining invisible. + +"To this terror was added the certain knowledge that the 'being' kept +in my proximity for a definite purpose. And that this purpose had some +direct bearing upon my well-being, indeed upon my life, I was equally +convinced; for I became aware of a sensation of growing lassitude as +though the vitality were being steadily drained out of my body. My heart +began to beat irregularly at first, then faintly. I was conscious, even +within a few minutes, of a general drooping of the powers of life in the +whole system, an ebbing away of self-control, and a distinct approach of +drowsiness and torpor. + +"The power to move, or to think out any mode of resistance, was fast +leaving me, when there rose, in the distance as it were, a tremendous +commotion. A door opened with a clatter, and I heard the peremptory and +commanding tones of a human voice calling aloud in a language I could +not comprehend. It was Smith, my fellow-lodger, calling up the stairs; +and his voice had not sounded for more than a few seconds, when I felt +something withdrawn from my presence, from my person, indeed from my +_very skin_. It seemed as if there was a rushing of air and some large +creature swept by me at about the level of my shoulders. Instantly the +pressure on my heart was relieved, and the atmosphere seemed to resume +its normal condition. + +"Smith's door closed quietly downstairs, as I put the lamp down with +trembling hands. What had happened I do not know; only, I was alone +again and my strength was returning as rapidly as it had left me. + +"I went across the room and examined myself in the glass. The skin was +very pale, and the eyes dull. My temperature, I found, was a little +below normal and my pulse faint and irregular. But these smaller signs +of disturbance were as nothing compared with the feeling I had--though +no outward signs bore testimony to the fact--that I had narrowly escaped +a real and ghastly catastrophe. I felt shaken, somehow, shaken to the +very roots of my being." + +The doctor rose from his chair and crossed over to the dying fire, so +that no one could see the expression on his face as he stood with his +back to the grate, and continued his weird tale. + +"It would be wearisome," he went on in a lower voice, looking over our +heads as though he still saw the dingy top floor of that haunted +Edinburgh lodging-house; "it would be tedious for me at this length of +time to analyse my feelings, or attempt to reproduce for you the +thorough examination to which I endeavoured then to subject my whole +being, intellectual, emotional, and physical. I need only mention the +dominant emotion with which this curious episode left me--the indignant +anger against myself that I could ever have lost my self-control enough +to come under the sway of so gross and absurd a delusion. This protest, +however, I remember making with all the emphasis possible. And I also +remember noting that it brought me very little satisfaction, for it was +the protest of my reason only, when all the rest of my being was up in +arms against its conclusions. + +"My dealings with the 'delusion,' however, were not yet over for the +night; for very early next morning, somewhere about three o'clock, I was +awakened by a curiously stealthy noise in the room, and the next minute +there followed a crash as if all my books had been swept bodily from +their shelf on to the floor. + +"But this time I was not frightened. Cursing the disturbance with all +the resounding and harmless words I could accumulate, I jumped out of +bed and lit the candle in a second, and in the first dazzle of the +flaring match--but before the wick had time to catch--I was certain I +_saw_ a dark grey shadow, of ungainly shape, and with something more or +less like a human head, drive rapidly past the side of the wall farthest +from me and disappear into the gloom by the angle of the door. + +"I waited one single second to be sure the candle was alight, and then +dashed after it, but before I had gone two steps, my foot stumbled +against something hard piled up on the carpet and I only just saved +myself from falling headlong. I picked myself up and found that all the +books from what I called my 'language shelf' were strewn across the +floor. The room, meanwhile, as a minute's search revealed, was quite +empty. I looked in every corner and behind every stick of furniture, and +a student's bedroom on a top floor, costing twelve shillings a week, did +not hold many available hiding-places, as you may imagine. + +"The crash, however, was explained. Some very practical and physical +force had thrown the books from their resting-place. That, at least, was +beyond all doubt. And as I replaced them on the shelf and noted that not +one was missing, I busied myself mentally with the sore problem of how +the agent of this little practical joke had gained access to my room, +and then escaped again. _For my door was locked and bolted._ + +"Smith's odd question as to whether I was disturbed in the night, and +his warning injunction to let him know at once if such were the case, +now of course returned to affect me as I stood there in the early +morning, cold and shivering on the carpet; but I realised at the same +moment how impossible it would be for me to admit that a more than +usually vivid nightmare could have any connection with himself. I would +rather stand a hundred of these mysterious visitations than consult such +a man as to their possible cause. + +"A knock at the door interrupted my reflections, and I gave a start that +sent the candle grease flying. + +"'Let me in,' came in Smith's voice. + +"I unlocked the door. He came in fully dressed. His face wore a curious +pallor. It seemed to me to be under the skin and to shine through and +almost make it luminous. His eyes were exceedingly bright. + +"I was wondering what in the world to say to him, or how he would +explain his visit at such an hour, when he closed the door behind him +and came close up to me--uncomfortably close. + +"'You should have called me at once,' he said in his whispering voice, +fixing his great eyes on my face. + +"I stammered something about an awful dream, but he ignored my remark +utterly, and I caught his eye wandering next--if any movement of those +optics can be described as 'wandering'--to the book-shelf. I watched +him, unable to move my gaze from his person. The man fascinated me +horribly for some reason. Why, in the devil's name, was he up and +dressed at three in the morning? How did he know anything had happened +unusual in my room? Then his whisper began again. + +"'It's your amazing vitality that causes you this annoyance,' he said, +shifting his eyes back to mine. + +"I gasped. Something in his voice or manner turned my blood into ice. + +"'That's the real attraction,' he went on. 'But if this continues one of +us will have to leave, you know.' + +"I positively could not find a word to say in reply. The channels of +speech dried up within me. I simply stared and wondered what he would +say next. I watched him in a sort of dream, and as far as I can +remember, he asked me to promise to call him sooner another time, and +then began to walk round the room, uttering strange sounds, and making +signs with his arms and hands until he reached the door. Then he was +gone in a second, and I had closed and locked the door behind him. + +"After this, the Smith adventure drew rapidly to a climax. It was a week +or two later, and I was coming home between two and three in the morning +from a maternity case, certain features of which for the time being had +very much taken possession of my mind, so much so, indeed, that I passed +Smith's door without giving him a single thought. + +"The gas jet on the landing was still burning, but so low that it made +little impression on the waves of deep shadow that lay across the +stairs. Overhead, the faintest possible gleam of grey showed that the +morning was not far away. A few stars shone down through the sky-light. +The house was still as the grave, and the only sound to break the +silence was the rushing of the wind round the walls and over the roof. +But this was a fitful sound, suddenly rising and as suddenly falling +away again, and it only served to intensify the silence. + +"I had already reached my own landing when I gave a violent start. It +was automatic, almost a reflex action in fact, for it was only when I +caught myself fumbling at the door handle and thinking where I could +conceal myself quickest that I realised a voice had sounded close beside +me in the air. It was the same voice I had heard before, and it seemed +to me to be calling for help. And yet the very same minute I pushed on +into the room, determined to disregard it, and seeking to persuade +myself it was the creaking of the boards under my weight or the rushing +noise of the wind that had deceived me. + +"But hardly had I reached the table where the candles stood when the +sound was unmistakably repeated: 'Help! help!' And this time it was +accompanied by what I can only describe as a vivid tactile +hallucination. I was touched: the _skin_ of my arm was clutched by +fingers. + +"Some compelling force sent me headlong downstairs as if the haunting +forces of the whole world were at my heels. At Smith's door I paused. +The force of his previous warning injunction to seek his aid without +delay acted suddenly and I leant my whole weight against the panels, +little dreaming that I should be called upon to give help rather than +to receive it. + +"The door yielded at once, and I burst into a room that was so full of a +choking vapour, moving in slow clouds, that at first I could distinguish +nothing at all but a set of what seemed to be huge shadows passing in +and out of the mist. Then, gradually, I perceived that a red lamp on the +mantelpiece gave all the light there was, and that the room which I now +entered for the first time was almost empty of furniture. + +"The carpet was rolled back and piled in a heap in the corner, and upon +the white boards of the floor I noticed a large circle drawn in black of +some material that emitted a faint glowing light and was apparently +smoking. Inside this circle, as well as at regular intervals outside it, +were curious-looking designs, also traced in the same black, smoking +substance. These, too, seemed to emit a feeble light of their own. + +"My first impression on entering the room had been that it was full +of--_people_, I was going to say; but that hardly expresses my meaning. +_Beings_, they certainly were, but it was borne in upon me beyond the +possibility of doubt, that they were not human beings. That I had caught +a momentary glimpse of living, intelligent entities I can never doubt, +but I am equally convinced, though I cannot prove it, that these +entities were from some other scheme of evolution altogether, and had +nothing to do with the ordinary human life, either incarnate or +discarnate. + +"But, whatever they were, the visible appearance of them was exceedingly +fleeting. I no longer saw anything, though I still felt convinced of +their immediate presence. They were, moreover, of the same order of life +as the visitant in my bedroom of a few nights before, and their +proximity to my atmosphere in numbers, instead of singly as before, +conveyed to my mind something that was quite terrible and overwhelming. +I fell into a violent trembling, and the perspiration poured from my +face in streams. + +"They were in constant motion about me. They stood close to my side; +moved behind me; brushed past my shoulder; stirred the hair on my +forehead; and circled round me without ever actually touching me, yet +always pressing closer and closer. Especially in the air just over my +head there seemed ceaseless movement, and it was accompanied by a +confused noise of whispering and sighing that threatened every moment to +become articulate in words. To my intense relief, however, I heard no +distinct words, and the noise continued more like the rising and falling +of the wind than anything else I can imagine. + +"But the characteristic of these 'Beings' that impressed me most +strongly at the time, and of which I have carried away the most +permanent recollection, was that each one of them possessed what seemed +to be a _vibrating centre_ which impelled it with tremendous force and +caused a rapid whirling motion of the atmosphere as it passed me. The +air was full of these little vortices of whirring, rotating force, and +whenever one of them pressed me too closely I felt as if the nerves in +that particular portion of my body had been literally drawn out, +absolutely depleted of vitality, and then immediately replaced--but +replaced dead, flabby, useless. + +"Then, suddenly, for the first time my eyes fell upon Smith. He was +crouching against the wall on my right, in an attitude that was +obviously defensive, and it was plain he was in extremities. The terror +on his face was pitiable, but at the same time there was another +expression about the tightly clenched teeth and mouth which showed that +he had not lost all control of himself. He wore the most resolute +expression I have ever seen on a human countenance, and, though for the +moment at a fearful disadvantage, he looked like a man who had +confidence in himself, and, in spite of the working of fear, was waiting +his opportunity. + +"For my part, I was face to face with a situation so utterly beyond my +knowledge and comprehension, that I felt as helpless as a child, and as +useless. + +"'Help me back--quick--into that circle,' I heard him half cry, half +whisper to me across the moving vapours. + +"My only value appears to have been that I was not afraid to act. +Knowing nothing of the forces I was dealing with I had no idea of the +deadly perils risked, and I sprang forward and caught him by the arms. +He threw all his weight in my direction, and by our combined efforts his +body left the wall and lurched across the floor towards the circle. + +"Instantly there descended upon us, out of the empty air of that +smoke-laden room, a force which I can only compare to the pushing, +driving power of a great wind pent up within a narrow space. It was +almost explosive in its effect, and it seemed to operate upon all parts +of my body equally. It fell upon us with a rushing noise that filled my +ears and made me think for a moment the very walls and roof of the +building had been torn asunder. Under its first blow we staggered back +against the wall, and I understood plainly that its purpose was to +prevent us getting back into the circle in the middle of the floor. + +"Pouring with perspiration, and breathless, with every muscle strained +to the very utmost, we at length managed to get to the edge of the +circle, and at this moment, so great was the opposing force, that I felt +myself actually torn from Smith's arms, lifted from my feet, and twirled +round in the direction of the windows as if the wheel of some great +machine had caught my clothes and was tearing me to destruction in its +revolution. + +"But, even as I fell, bruised and breathless, against the wall, I saw +Smith firmly upon his feet in the circle and slowly rising again to an +upright position. My eyes never left his figure once in the next few +minutes. + +"He drew himself up to his full height. His great shoulders squared +themselves. His head was thrown back a little, and as I looked I saw the +expression on his face change swiftly from fear to one of absolute +command. He looked steadily round the room and then his voice began to +_vibrate_. At first in a low tone, it gradually rose till it assumed the +same volume and intensity I had heard that night when he called up the +stairs into my room. + +"It was a curiously increasing sound, more like the swelling of an +instrument than a human voice; and as it grew in power and filled the +room, I became aware that a great change was being effected slowly and +surely. The confusion of noise and rushings of air fell into the roll of +long, steady vibrations not unlike those caused by the deeper pedals of +an organ. The movements in the air became less violent, then grew +decidedly weaker, and finally ceased altogether. The whisperings and +sighings became fainter and fainter, till at last I could not hear them +at all; and, strangest of all, the light emitted by the circle, as well +as by the designs round it, increased to a steady glow, casting their +radiance upwards with the weirdest possible effect upon his features. +Slowly, by the power of his voice, behind which lay undoubtedly a +genuine knowledge of the occult manipulation of sound, this man +dominated the forces that had escaped from their proper sphere, until +at length the room was reduced to silence and perfect order again. + +"Judging by the immense relief which also communicated itself to my +nerves I then felt that the crisis was over and Smith was wholly master +of the situation. + +"But hardly had I begun to congratulate myself upon this result, and to +gather my scattered senses about me, when, uttering a loud cry, I saw +him leap out of the circle and fling himself into the air--as it seemed +to me, into the empty air. Then, even while holding my breath for dread +of the crash he was bound to come upon the floor, I saw him strike with +a dull thud against a solid body in mid-air, and the next instant he was +wrestling with some ponderous thing that was absolutely invisible to me, +and the room shook with the struggle. + +"To and fro _they_ swayed, sometimes lurching in one direction, +sometimes in another, and always in horrible proximity to myself, as I +leaned trembling against the wall and watched the encounter. + +"It lasted at most but a short minute or two, ending as suddenly as it +had begun. Smith, with an unexpected movement, threw up his arms with a +cry of relief. At the same instant there was a wild, tearing shriek in +the air beside me and something rushed past us with a noise like the +passage of a flock of big birds. Both windows rattled as if they would +break away from their sashes. Then a sense of emptiness and peace +suddenly came over the room, and I knew that all was over. + +"Smith, his face exceedingly white, but otherwise strangely composed, +turned to me at once. + +"'God!--if you hadn't come--You deflected the stream; broke it up--' he +whispered. 'You saved me.'" + +The doctor made a long pause. Presently he felt for his pipe in the +darkness, groping over the table behind us with both hands. No one spoke +for a bit, but all dreaded the sudden glare that would come when he +struck the match. The fire was nearly out and the great hall was pitch +dark. + +But the story-teller did not strike that match. He was merely gaining +time for some hidden reason of his own. And presently he went on with +his tale in a more subdued voice. + +"I quite forget," he said, "how I got back to my own room. I only know +that I lay with two lighted candles for the rest of the night, and the +first thing I did in the morning was to let the landlady know I was +leaving her house at the end of the week. + +"Smith still has my Rabbinical Treatise. At least he did not return it +to me at the time, and I have never seen him since to ask for it." + + + + +A SUSPICIOUS GIFT + + +Blake had been in very low water for months--almost under water part of +the time--due to circumstances he was fond of saying were no fault of +his own; and as he sat writing in his room on "third floor back" of a +New York boarding-house, part of his mind was busily occupied in +wondering when his luck was going to turn again. + +It was his room only in the sense that he paid the rent. Two friends, +one a little Frenchman and the other a big Dane, shared it with him, +both hoping eventually to contribute something towards expenses, but so +far not having accomplished this result. They had two beds only, the +third being a mattress they slept upon in turns, a week at a time. A +good deal of their irregular "feeding" consisted of oatmeal, potatoes, +and sometimes eggs, all of which they cooked on a strange utensil they +had contrived to fix into the gas jet. Occasionally, when dinner failed +them altogether, they swallowed a little raw rice and drank hot water +from the bathroom on the top of it, and then made a wild race for bed so +as to get to sleep while the sensation of false repletion was still +there. For sleep and hunger are slight acquaintances as they well knew. +Fortunately all New York houses are supplied with hot air, and they only +had to open a grating in the wall to get a plentiful, if not a wholesome +amount of heat. + +Though loneliness in a big city is a real punishment, as they had +severally learnt to their cost, their experiences, three in a small room +for several months, had revealed to them horrors of quite another kind, +and their nerves had suffered according to the temperament of each. But, +on this particular evening, as Blake sat scribbling by the only window +that was not cracked, the Dane and the Frenchman, his companions in +adversity, were in wonderful luck. They had both been asked out to a +restaurant to dine with a friend who also held out to one of them a +chance of work and remuneration. They would not be back till late, and +when they did come they were pretty sure to bring in supplies of one +kind or another. For the Frenchman never could resist the offer of a +glass of absinthe, and this meant that he would be able to help himself +plentifully from the free-lunch counters, with which all New York bars +are furnished, and to which any purchaser of a drink is entitled to help +himself and devour on the spot or carry away casually in his hand for +consumption elsewhere. Thousands of unfortunate men get their sole +subsistence in this way in New York, and experience soon teaches where, +for the price of a single drink, a man can take away almost a meal of +chip potatoes, sausage, bits of bread, and even eggs. The Frenchman and +the Dane knew their way about, and Blake looked forward to a supper more +or less substantial before pulling his mattress out of the cupboard and +turning in upon the floor for the night. + +Meanwhile he could enjoy a quiet and lonely evening with the room all to +himself. + +In the daytime he was a reporter on an evening newspaper of sensational +and lying habits. His work was chiefly in the police courts; and in his +spare hours at night, when not too tired or too empty, he wrote sketches +and stories for the magazines that very rarely saw the light of day on +their printed and paid-for sentences. On this particular occasion he was +deep in a most involved tale of a psychological character, and had just +worked his way into a sentence, or set of sentences, that completely +baffled and muddled him. + +He was fairly out of his depth, and his brain was too poorly supplied +with blood to invent a way out again. The story would have been +interesting had he written it simply, keeping to facts and feelings, and +not diving into difficult analysis of motive and character which was +quite beyond him. For it was largely autobiographical, and was meant to +describe the adventures of a young Englishman who had come to grief in +the usual manner on a Canadian farm, had then subsequently become +bar-keeper, sub-editor on a Methodist magazine, a teacher of French and +German to clerks at twenty-five cents per hour, a model for artists, a +super on the stage, and, finally, a wanderer to the goldfields. + +Blake scratched his head, and dipped the pen in the inkpot, stared out +through the blindless windows, and sighed deeply. His thoughts kept +wandering to food, beefsteak and steaming vegetables. The smell of +cooking that came from a lower floor through the broken windows was a +constant torment to him. He pulled himself together and again attacked +the problem. + +" . . . for with some people," he wrote, "the imagination is so vivid as +to be almost an extension of consciousness. . . ." But here he stuck +absolutely. He was not quite sure what he meant by the words, and how to +finish the sentence puzzled him into blank inaction. It was a difficult +point to decide, for it seemed to come in appropriately at this point in +his story, and he did not know whether to leave it as it stood, change +it round a bit, or take it out altogether. It might just spoil its +chances of being accepted: editors were such clever men. But, to rewrite +the sentence was a grind, and he was so tired and sleepy. After all, +what did it matter? People who were clever would force a meaning into +it; people who were not clever would pretend--he knew of no other +classes of readers. He would let it stay, and go on with the action of +the story. He put his head in his hands and began to think hard. + +His mind soon passed from thought to reverie. He fell to wondering when +his friends would find work and relieve him of the burden--he +acknowledged it as such--of keeping them, and of letting another man +wear his best clothes on alternate Sundays. He wondered when his "luck" +would turn. There were one or two influential people in New York whom +he could go and see if he had a dress suit and the other conventional +uniforms. His thoughts ran on far ahead, and at the same time, by a sort +of double process, far behind as well. His home in the "old country" +rose up before him; he saw the lawn and the cedars in sunshine; he +looked through the familiar windows and saw the clean, swept rooms. His +story began to suffer; the psychological masterpiece would not make much +progress unless he pulled up and dragged his thoughts back to the +treadmill. But he no longer cared; once he had got as far as that cedar +with the sunshine on it, he never could get back again. For all he +cared, the troublesome sentence might run away and get into someone +else's pages, or be snuffed out altogether. + +There came a gentle knock at the door, and Blake started. The knock was +repeated louder. Who in the world could it be at this late hour of the +night? On the floor above, he remembered, there lived another +Englishman, a foolish, second-rate creature, who sometimes came in and +made himself objectionable with endless and silly chatter. But he was an +Englishman for all that, and Blake always tried to treat him with +politeness, realising that he was lonely in a strange land. But +to-night, of all people in the world, he did not want to be bored with +Perry's cackle, as he called it, and the "Come in" he gave in answer to +the second knock had no very cordial sound of welcome in it. + +However, the door opened in response, and the man came in. Blake did not +turn round at once, and the other advanced to the centre of the room, +but _without speaking_. Then Blake knew it was not his enemy, Perry, and +turned round. + +He saw a man of about forty standing in the middle of the carpet, but +standing sideways so that he did not present a full face. He wore an +overcoat buttoned up to the neck, and on the felt hat which he held in +front of him fresh rain-drops glistened. In his other hand he carried a +small black bag. Blake gave him a good look, and came to the conclusion +that he might be a secretary, or a chief clerk, or a confidential man of +sorts. He was a shabby-respectable-looking person. This was the +sum-total of the first impression, gained the moment his eyes took in +that it was _not_ Perry; the second impression was less pleasant, and +reported at once that something was wrong. + +Though otherwise young and inexperienced, Blake--thanks, or curses, to +the police court training--knew more about common criminal +blackguardism than most men of fifty, and he recognised that there was +somewhere a suggestion of this undesirable world about the man. But +there was more than this. There was something singular about him, +something far out of the common, though for the life of him Blake could +not say wherein it lay. The fellow was out of the ordinary, and in some +very undesirable manner. + +All this, that takes so long to describe, Blake saw with the first and +second glance. The man at once began to speak in a quiet and respectful +voice. + +"Are you Mr. Blake?" he asked. + +"I am." + +"Mr. Arthur Blake?" + +"Yes." + +"Mr. Arthur _Herbert_ Blake?" persisted the other, with emphasis on the +middle name. + +"That is my full name," Blake answered simply, adding, as he remembered +his manners; "but won't you sit down, first, please?" + +The man advanced with a curious sideways motion like a crab and took a +seat on the edge of the sofa. He put his hat on the floor at his feet, +but still kept the bag in his hand. + +"I come to you from a well-wisher," he went on in oily tones, without +lifting his eyes. Blake, in his mind, ran quickly over all the people he +knew in New York who might possibly have sent such a man, while waiting +for him to supply the name. But the man had come to a full stop and was +waiting too. + +"A well-wisher of _mine_?" repeated Blake, not knowing quite what else +to say. + +"Just so," replied the other, still with his eyes on the floor. "A +well-wisher of yours." + +"A man or--" he felt himself blushing, "or a woman?" + +"That," said the man shortly, "I cannot tell you." + +"You can't tell me!" exclaimed the other, wondering what was coming +next, and who in the world this mysterious well-wisher could be who sent +so discreet and mysterious a messenger. + +"I cannot tell you the name," replied the man firmly. "Those are my +instructions. But I bring you something from this person, and I am to +give it to you, to take a receipt for it, and then to go away without +answering any questions." + +Blake stared very hard. The man, however, never raised his eyes above +the level of the second china knob on the chest of drawers opposite. The +giving of a receipt sounded like money. Could it be that some of his +influential friends had heard of his plight? There were possibilities +that made his heart beat. At length, however, he found his tongue, for +this strange creature was determined apparently to say nothing more +until he had heard from him. + +"Then, what have you got for me, please?" he asked bluntly. + +By way of answer the man proceeded to open the bag. He took out a parcel +wrapped loosely in brown paper, and about the size of a large book. It +was tied with string, and the man seemed unnecessarily long untying the +knot. When at last the string was off and the paper unfolded, there +appeared a series of smaller packages inside. The man took them out very +carefully, almost as if they had been alive, Blake thought, and set them +in a row upon his knees. They were dollar bills. Blake, all in a +flutter, craned his neck forward a little to try and make out their +denomination. He read plainly the figures 100. + +"There are ten thousand dollars here," said the man quietly. + +The other could not suppress a little cry. + +"And they are for you." + +Blake simply gasped. "Ten thousand dollars!" he repeated, a queer +feeling growing up in his throat. "_Ten thousand._ Are you sure? I +mean--you mean they are for _me_?" he stammered. He felt quite silly +with excitement, and grew more so with every minute, as the man +maintained a perfect silence. Was it not a dream? Wouldn't the man put +them back in the bag presently and say it was a mistake, and they were +meant for somebody else? He could not believe his eyes or his ears. Yet, +in a sense, it was possible. He had read of such things in books, and +even come across them in his experience of the courts--the erratic and +generous philanthropist who is determined to do his good deed and to get +no thanks or acknowledgment for it. Still, it seemed almost incredible. +His troubles began to melt away like bubbles in the sun; he thought of +the other fellows when they came in, and what he would have to tell +them; he thought of the German landlady and the arrears of rent, of +regular food and clean linen, and books and music, of the chance of +getting into some respectable business, of--well, of as many things as +it is possible to think of when excitement and surprise fling wide open +the gates of the imagination. + +The man, meanwhile, began quietly to count over the packages aloud from +one to ten, and then to count the bills in each separate packet, also +from one to ten. Yes, there were ten little heaps, each containing ten +bills of a hundred-dollar denomination. That made ten thousand dollars. +Blake had never seen so much money in a single lump in his life before; +and for many months of privation and discomfort he had not known the +"feel" of a twenty-dollar note, much less of a hundred-dollar one. He +heard them crackle under the man's fingers, and it was like crisp +laughter in his ears. The bills were evidently new and unused. + +But, side by side with the excitement caused by the shock of such an +event, Blake's caution, acquired by a year of vivid New York experience, +was meanwhile beginning to assert itself. It all seemed just a little +too much out of the likely order of things to be quite right. The police +courts had taught him the amazing ingenuity of the criminal mind, as +well as something of the plots and devices by which the unwary are +beguiled into the dark places where blackmail may be levied with +impunity. New York, as a matter of fact, just at that time was literally +undermined with the secret ways of the blackmailers, the green-goods +men, and other police-protected abominations; and the only weak point +in the supposition that this was part of some such proceeding was the +selection of himself--a poor newspaper reporter--as a victim. It did +seem absurd, but then the whole thing was so out of the ordinary, and +the thought once having entered his mind, was not so easily got rid of. +Blake resolved to be very cautious. + +The man meanwhile, though he never appeared to raise his eyes from the +carpet, had been watching him closely all the time. + +"If you will give me a receipt I'll leave the money at once," he said, +with just a vestige of impatience in his tone, as if he were anxious to +bring the matter to a conclusion as soon as possible. + +"But you say it is quite impossible for you to tell me the name of my +well-wisher, or why _she_ sends me such a large sum of money in this +extraordinary way?" + +"The money is sent to you because you are in need of it," returned the +other; "and it is a present without conditions of any sort attached. You +have to give me a receipt only to satisfy the sender that it has reached +your hands. The money will never be asked of you again." + +Blake noticed two things from this answer: first, that the man was not +to be caught into betraying the sex of the well-wisher; and secondly, +that he was in some hurry to complete the transaction. For he was now +giving reasons, attractive reasons, why he should accept the money and +make out the receipt. + +Suddenly it flashed across his mind that if he took the money and gave +the receipt _before a witness_, nothing very disastrous could come of +the affair. It would protect him against blackmail, if this was, after +all, a plot of some sort with blackmail in it; whereas, if the man were +a madman, or a criminal who was getting rid of a portion of his +ill-gotten gains to divert suspicion, or if any other improbable +explanation turned out to be the true one, there was no great harm done, +and he could hold the money till it was claimed, or advertised for in +the newspapers. His mind rapidly ran over these possibilities, though, +of course, under the stress of excitement, he was unable to weigh any of +them properly; then he turned to his strange visitor again and said +quietly-- + +"I will take the money, although I must say it seems to me a very +unusual transaction, and I will give you for it such a receipt as I +think proper under the circumstances." + +"A proper receipt is all I want," was the answer. + +"I mean by that a receipt before a proper witness--" + +"Perfectly satisfactory," interrupted the man, his eyes still on the +carpet. "Only, it must be dated, and headed with your address here in +the correct way." + +Blake could see no possible objection to this, and he at once proceeded +to obtain his witness. The person he had in his mind was a Mr. Barclay, +who occupied the room above his own; an old gentleman who had retired +from business and who, the landlady always said, was a miser, and kept +large sums secreted in his room. He was, at any rate, a perfectly +respectable man and would make an admirable witness to a transaction of +this sort. Blake made an apology and rose to fetch him, crossing the +room in front of the sofa where the man sat, in order to reach the door. +As he did so, he saw for the first time the _other side_ of his +visitor's face, the side that had been always so carefully turned away +from him. + +There was a broad smear of blood down the skin from the ear to the +neck. It glistened in the gaslight. + +Blake never knew how he managed to smother the cry that sprang to his +lips, but smother it he did. In a second he was at the door, his knees +trembling, his mind in a sudden and dreadful turmoil. + +His main object, so far as he could recollect afterwards, was to escape +from the room as if he had noticed nothing, so as not to arouse the +other's suspicions. The man's eyes were always on the carpet, and +probably, Blake hoped, he had not noticed the consternation that must +have been written plainly on his face. At any rate he had uttered no +cry. + +In another second he would have been in the passage, when suddenly he +met a pair of wicked, staring eyes fixed intently and with a cunning +smile upon his own. It was the other's face in the mirror calmly +watching his every movement. + +Instantly, all his powers of reflection flew to the winds, and he +thought only upon the desirability of getting help at once. He tore +upstairs, his heart in his mouth. Barclay must come to his aid. This +matter was serious--perhaps horribly serious. Taking the money, or +giving a receipt, or having anything at all to do with it became an +impossibility. Here was crime. He felt certain of it. + +In three bounds he reached the next landing and began to hammer at the +old miser's door as if his very life depended on it. For a long time he +could get no answer. His fists seemed to make no noise. He might have +been knocking on cotton wool, and the thought dashed through his brain +that it was all just like the terror of a nightmare. + +Barclay, evidently, was still out, or else sound asleep. But the other +simply could not wait a minute longer in suspense. He turned the handle +and walked into the room. At first he saw nothing for the darkness, and +made sure the owner of the room was out; but the moment the light from +the passage began a little to disperse the gloom, he saw the old man, to +his immense relief, lying asleep on the bed. + +Blake opened the door to its widest to get more light and then walked +quickly up to the bed. He now saw the figure more plainly, and noted +that it was dressed and lay only upon the outside of the bed. It struck +him, too, that he was sleeping in a very odd, almost an unnatural, +position. + +Something clutched at his heart as he looked closer. He stumbled over a +chair and found the matches. Calling upon Barclay the whole time to wake +up and come downstairs with him, he blundered across the floor, a +dreadful thought in his mind, and lit the gas over the table. It seemed +strange that there was no movement or reply to his shouting. But it no +longer seemed strange when at length he turned, in the full glare of the +gas, and saw the old man lying huddled up into a ghastly heap on the +bed, his throat cut across from ear to ear. + +And all over the carpet lay new dollar bills, crisp and clean like those +he had left downstairs, and strewn about in little heaps. + +For a moment Blake stood stock-still, bereft of all power of movement. +The next, his courage returned, and he fled from the room and dashed +downstairs, taking five steps at a time. He reached the bottom and tore +along the passage to his room, determined at any rate to seize the man +and prevent his escape till help came. + +But when he got to the end of the little landing he found that his door +had been closed. He seized the handle, fumbling with it in his violence. +It felt slippery and kept turning under his fingers without opening the +door, and fully half a minute passed before it yielded and let him in +headlong. + +At the first glance he saw the room was empty, and the man gone! + +Scattered upon the carpet lay a number of the bills, and beside them, +half hidden under the sofa where the man had sat, he saw a pair of +gloves--thick, leathern gloves--and a butcher's knife. Even from the +distance where he stood the blood-stains on both were easily visible. + +Dazed and confused by the terrible discoveries of the last few minutes, +Blake stood in the middle of the room, overwhelmed and unable to think +or move. Unconsciously he must have passed his hand over his forehead in +the natural gesture of perplexity, for he noticed that the skin felt wet +and sticky. His hand was covered with blood! And when he rushed in +terror to the looking-glass, he saw that there was a broad red smear +across his face and forehead. Then he remembered the slippery handle of +the door and knew that it had been carefully moistened! + +In an instant the whole plot became clear as daylight, and he was so +spellbound with horror that a sort of numbness came over him and he came +very near to fainting. He was in a condition of utter helplessness, and +had anyone come into the room at that minute and called him by name he +would simply have dropped to the floor in a heap. + +"If the police were to come in now!" The thought crashed through his +brain like thunder, and at the same moment, almost before he had time to +appreciate a quarter of its significance, there came a loud knocking at +the front door below. The bell rang with a dreadful clamour; men's +voices were heard talking excitedly, and presently heavy steps began to +come up the stairs in the direction of his room. + +It _was_ the police! + +And all Blake could do was to laugh foolishly to himself--and wait till +they were upon him. He could not move nor speak. He stood face to face +with the evidence of his horrid crime, his hands and face smeared with +the blood of his victim, and there he was standing when the police burst +open the door and came noisily into the room. + +"Here it is!" cried a voice he knew. "Third floor back! And the fellow +caught red-handed!" + +It was the man with the bag leading in the two policemen. + +Hardly knowing what he was doing in the fearful stress of conflicting +emotions, he made a step forward. But before he had time to make a +second one, he felt the heavy hand of the law descend upon both +shoulders at once as the two policemen moved up to seize him. At the +same moment a voice of thunder cried in his ear-- + +"Wake up, man! Wake up! Here's the supper, and good news too!" + +Blake turned with a start in his chair and saw the Dane, very red in the +face, standing beside him, a hand on each shoulder, and a little further +back he saw the Frenchman leering happily at him over the end of the +bed, a bottle of beer in one hand and a paper package in the other. + +He rubbed his eyes, glancing from one to the other, and then got up +sleepily to fix the wire arrangement on the gas jet to boil water for +cooking the eggs which the Frenchman was in momentary danger of letting +drop upon the floor. + + + + +THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A PRIVATE SECRETARY IN NEW YORK + + + +I + +It was never quite clear to me how Jim Shorthouse managed to get his +private secretaryship; but, once he got it, he kept it, and for some +years he led a steady life and put money in the savings bank. + +One morning his employer sent for him into the study, and it was evident +to the secretary's trained senses that there was something unusual in +the air. + +"Mr. Shorthouse," he began, somewhat nervously, "I have never yet had +the opportunity of observing whether or not you are possessed of +personal courage." + +Shorthouse gasped, but he said nothing. He was growing accustomed to the +eccentricities of his chief. Shorthouse was a Kentish man; Sidebotham +was "raised" in Chicago; New York was the present place of residence. + +"But," the other continued, with a puff at his very black cigar, "I must +consider myself a poor judge of human nature in future, if it is not one +of your strongest qualities." + +The private secretary made a foolish little bow in modest appreciation +of so uncertain a compliment. Mr. Jonas B. Sidebotham watched him +narrowly, as the novelists say, before he continued his remarks. + +"I have no doubt that you are a plucky fellow and--" He hesitated, and +puffed at his cigar as if his life depended upon it keeping alight. + +"I don't think I'm afraid of anything in particular, sir--except women," +interposed the young man, feeling that it was time for him to make an +observation of some sort, but still quite in the dark as to his chief's +purpose. + +"Humph!" he grunted. "Well, there are no women in this case so far as I +know. But there may be other things that--that hurt more." + +"Wants a special service of some kind, evidently," was the secretary's +reflection. "Personal violence?" he asked aloud. + +"Possibly (puff), in fact (puff, puff) probably." + +Shorthouse smelt an increase of salary in the air. It had a stimulating +effect. + +"I've had some experience of that article, sir," he said shortly; "but +I'm ready to undertake anything in reason." + +"I can't say how much reason or unreason there may prove to be in this +particular case. It all depends." + +Mr. Sidebotham got up and locked the door of his study and drew down the +blinds of both windows. Then he took a bunch of keys from his pocket and +opened a black tin box. He ferreted about among blue and white papers +for a few seconds, enveloping himself as he did so in a cloud of blue +tobacco smoke. + +"I feel like a detective already," Shorthouse laughed. + +"Speak low, please," returned the other, glancing round the room. "We +must observe the utmost secrecy. Perhaps you would be kind enough to +close the registers," he went on in a still lower voice. "Open registers +have betrayed conversations before now." + +Shorthouse began to enter into the spirit of the thing. He tiptoed +across the floor and shut the two iron gratings in the wall that in +American houses supply hot air and are termed "registers." Mr. +Sidebotham had meanwhile found the paper he was looking for. He held it +in front of him and tapped it once or twice with the back of his right +hand as if it were a stage letter and himself the villain of the +melodrama. + +"This is a letter from Joel Garvey, my old partner," he said at length. +"You have heard me speak of him." + +The other bowed. He knew that many years before Garvey & Sidebotham had +been well known in the Chicago financial world. He knew that the amazing +rapidity with which they accumulated a fortune had only been surpassed +by the amazing rapidity with which they had immediately afterwards +disappeared into space. He was further aware--his position afforded +facilities--that each partner was still to some extent in the other's +power, and that each wished most devoutly that the other would die. + +The sins of his employer's early years did not concern him, however. The +man was kind and just, if eccentric; and Shorthouse, being in New York, +did not probe to discover more particularly the sources whence his +salary was so regularly paid. Moreover, the two men had grown to like +each other and there was a genuine feeling of trust and respect between +them. + +"I hope it's a pleasant communication, sir," he said in a low voice. + +"Quite the reverse," returned the other, fingering the paper nervously +as he stood in front of the fire. + +"Blackmail, I suppose." + +"Precisely." Mr. Sidebotham's cigar was not burning well; he struck a +match and applied it to the uneven edge, and presently his voice spoke +through clouds of wreathing smoke. + +"There are valuable papers in my possession bearing his signature. I +cannot inform you of their nature; but they are extremely valuable _to +me_. They belong, as a matter of fact, to Garvey as much as to me. Only +I've got them--" + +"I see." + +"Garvey writes that he wants to have his signature removed--wants to cut +it out with his own hand. He gives reasons which incline me to consider +his request--" + +"And you would like me to take him the papers and see that he does it?" + +"And bring them back again with you," he whispered, screwing up his eyes +into a shrewd grimace. + +"And bring them back again with me," repeated the secretary. "I +understand perfectly." + +Shorthouse knew from unfortunate experience more than a little of the +horrors of blackmail. The pressure Garvey was bringing to bear upon his +old enemy must be exceedingly strong. That was quite clear. At the same +time, the commission that was being entrusted to him seemed somewhat +quixotic in its nature. He had already "enjoyed" more than one +experience of his employer's eccentricity, and he now caught himself +wondering whether this same eccentricity did not sometimes go--further +than eccentricity. + +"I cannot read the letter to you," Mr. Sidebotham was explaining, "but I +shall give it into your hands. It will prove that you are my--er--my +accredited representative. I shall also ask you not to read the package +of papers. The signature in question you will find, of course, on the +last page, at the bottom." + +There was a pause of several minutes during which the end of the cigar +glowed eloquently. + +"Circumstances compel me," he went on at length almost in a whisper, "or +I should never do this. But you understand, of course, the thing is a +ruse. Cutting out the signature is a mere pretence. It is nothing. +_What Garvey wants are the papers themselves._" + +The confidence reposed in the private secretary was not misplaced. +Shorthouse was as faithful to Mr. Sidebotham as a man ought to be to the +wife that loves him. + +The commission itself seemed very simple. Garvey lived in solitude in +the remote part of Long Island. Shorthouse was to take the papers to +him, witness the cutting out of the signature, and to be specially on +his guard against any attempt, forcible or otherwise, to gain possession +of them. It seemed to him a somewhat ludicrous adventure, but he did not +know all the facts and perhaps was not the best judge. + +The two men talked in low voices for another hour, at the end of which +Mr. Sidebotham drew up the blinds, opened the registers and unlocked the +door. + +Shorthouse rose to go. His pockets were stuffed with papers and his head +with instructions; but when he reached the door he hesitated and turned. + +"Well?" said his chief. + +Shorthouse looked him straight in the eye and said nothing. + +"The personal violence, I suppose?" said the other. Shorthouse bowed. + +"I have not seen Garvey for twenty years," he said; "all I can tell you +is that I believe him to be occasionally of unsound mind. I have heard +strange rumours. He lives alone, and in his lucid intervals studies +chemistry. It was always a hobby of his. But the chances are twenty to +one against his attempting violence. I only wished to warn you--in +case--I mean, so that you may be on the watch." + +He handed his secretary a Smith and Wesson revolver as he spoke. +Shorthouse slipped it into his hip pocket and went out of the room. + + * * * * * + +A drizzling cold rain was falling on fields covered with half-melted +snow when Shorthouse stood, late in the afternoon, on the platform of +the lonely little Long Island station and watched the train he had just +left vanish into the distance. + +It was a bleak country that Joel Garvey, Esq., formerly of Chicago, had +chosen for his residence and on this particular afternoon it presented a +more than usually dismal appearance. An expanse of flat fields covered +with dirty snow stretched away on all sides till the sky dropped down to +meet them. Only occasional farm buildings broke the monotony, and the +road wound along muddy lanes and beneath dripping trees swathed in the +cold raw fog that swept in like a pall of the dead from the sea. + +It was six miles from the station to Garvey's house, and the driver of +the rickety buggy Shorthouse had found at the station was not +communicative. Between the dreary landscape and the drearier driver he +fell back upon his own thoughts, which, but for the spice of adventure +that was promised, would themselves have been even drearier than either. +He made up his mind that he would waste no time over the transaction. +The moment the signature was cut out he would pack up and be off. The +last train back to Brooklyn was 7.15; and he would have to walk the six +miles of mud and snow, for the driver of the buggy had refused +point-blank to wait for him. + +For purposes of safety, Shorthouse had done what he flattered himself +was rather a clever thing. He had made up a second packet of papers +identical in outside appearance with the first. The inscription, the +blue envelope, the red elastic band, and even a blot in the lower +left-hand corner had been exactly reproduced. Inside, of course, were +only sheets of blank paper. It was his intention to change the packets +and to let Garvey see him put the sham one into the bag. In case of +violence the bag would be the point of attack, and he intended to lock +it and throw away the key. Before it could be forced open and the +deception discovered there would be time to increase his chances of +escape with the real packet. + +It was five o'clock when the silent Jehu pulled up in front of a +half-broken gate and pointed with his whip to a house that stood in its +own grounds among trees and was just visible in the gathering gloom. +Shorthouse told him to drive up to the front door but the man refused. + +"I ain't runnin' no risks," he said; "I've got a family." + +This cryptic remark was not encouraging, but Shorthouse did not pause to +decipher it. He paid the man, and then pushed open the rickety old gate +swinging on a single hinge, and proceeded to walk up the drive that lay +dark between close-standing trees. The house soon came into full view. +It was tall and square and had once evidently been white, but now the +walls were covered with dirty patches and there were wide yellow streaks +where the plaster had fallen away. The windows stared black and +uncompromising into the night. The garden was overgrown with weeds and +long grass, standing up in ugly patches beneath their burden of wet +snow. Complete silence reigned over all. There was not a sign of life. +Not even a dog barked. Only, in the distance, the wheels of the +retreating carriage could be heard growing fainter and fainter. + +As he stood in the porch, between pillars of rotting wood, listening to +the rain dripping from the roof into the puddles of slushy snow, he was +conscious of a sensation of utter desertion and loneliness such as he +had never before experienced. The forbidding aspect of the house had the +immediate effect of lowering his spirits. It might well have been the +abode of monsters or demons in a child's wonder tale, creatures that +only dared to come out under cover of darkness. He groped for the +bell-handle, or knocker, and finding neither, he raised his stick and +beat a loud tattoo on the door. The sound echoed away in an empty space +on the other side and the wind moaned past him between the pillars as if +startled at his audacity. But there was no sound of approaching +footsteps and no one came to open the door. Again he beat a tattoo, +louder and longer than the first one; and, having done so, waited with +his back to the house and stared across the unkempt garden into the fast +gathering shadows. + +Then he turned suddenly, and saw that the door was standing ajar. It had +been quietly opened and a pair of eyes were peering at him round the +edge. There was no light in the hall beyond and he could only just make +out the shape of a dim human face. + +"Does Mr. Garvey live here?" he asked in a firm voice. + +"Who are you?" came in a man's tones. + +"I'm Mr. Sidebotham's private secretary. I wish to see Mr. Garvey on +important business." + +"Are you expected?" + +"I suppose so," he said impatiently, thrusting a card through the +opening. "Please take my name to him at once, and say I come from Mr. +Sidebotham on the matter Mr. Garvey wrote about." + +The man took the card, and the face vanished into the darkness, leaving +Shorthouse standing in the cold porch with mingled feelings of +impatience and dismay. The door, he now noticed for the first time, was +on a chain and could not open more than a few inches. But it was the +manner of his reception that caused uneasy reflections to stir within +him--reflections that continued for some minutes before they were +interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps and the flicker of a +light in the hall. + +The next instant the chain fell with a rattle, and gripping his bag +tightly, he walked into a large ill-smelling hall of which he could only +just see the ceiling. There was no light but the nickering taper held by +the man, and by its uncertain glimmer Shorthouse turned to examine him. +He saw an undersized man of middle age with brilliant, shifting eyes, a +curling black beard, and a nose that at once proclaimed him a Jew. His +shoulders were bent, and, as he watched him replacing the chain, he saw +that he wore a peculiar black gown like a priest's cassock reaching to +the feet. It was altogether a lugubrious figure of a man, sinister and +funereal, yet it seemed in perfect harmony with the general character of +its surroundings. The hall was devoid of furniture of any kind, and +against the dingy walls stood rows of old picture frames, empty and +disordered, and odd-looking bits of wood-work that appeared doubly +fantastic as their shadows danced queerly over the floor in the shifting +light. + +"If you'll come this way, Mr. Garvey will see you presently," said the +Jew gruffly, crossing the floor and shielding the taper with a bony +hand. He never once raised his eyes above the level of the visitor's +waistcoat, and, to Shorthouse, he somehow suggested a figure from the +dead rather than a man of flesh and blood. The hall smelt decidedly ill. + +All the more surprising, then, was the scene that met his eyes when the +Jew opened the door at the further end and he entered a room brilliantly +lit with swinging lamps and furnished with a degree of taste and comfort +that amounted to luxury. The walls were lined with handsomely bound +books, and armchairs were arranged round a large mahogany desk in the +middle of the room. A bright fire burned in the grate and neatly framed +photographs of men and women stood on the mantelpiece on either side of +an elaborately carved clock. French windows that opened like doors were +partially concealed by warm red curtains, and on a sideboard against the +wall stood decanters and glasses, with several boxes of cigars piled on +top of one another. There was a pleasant odour of tobacco about the +room. Indeed, it was in such glowing contrast to the chilly poverty of +the hall that Shorthouse already was conscious of a distinct rise in the +thermometer of his spirits. + +Then he turned and saw the Jew standing in the doorway with his eyes +fixed upon him, somewhere about the middle button of his waistcoat. He +presented a strangely repulsive appearance that somehow could not be +attributed to any particular detail, and the secretary associated him in +his mind with a monstrous black bird of prey more than anything else. + +"My time is short," he said abruptly; "I hope Mr. Garvey will not keep +me waiting." + +A strange flicker of a smile appeared on the Jew's ugly face and +vanished as quickly as it came. He made a sort of deprecating bow by way +of reply. Then he blew out the taper and went out, closing the door +noiselessly behind him. + +Shorthouse was alone. He felt relieved. There was an air of obsequious +insolence about the old Jew that was very offensive. He began to take +note of his surroundings. He was evidently in the library of the house, +for the walls were covered with books almost up to the ceiling. There +was no room for pictures. Nothing but the shining backs of well-bound +volumes looked down upon him. Four brilliant lights hung from the +ceiling and a reading lamp with a polished reflector stood among the +disordered masses of papers on the desk. + +The lamp was not lit, but when Shorthouse put his hand upon it he found +it was _warm_. The room had evidently only just been vacated. + +Apart from the testimony of the lamp, however, he had already felt, +without being able to give a reason for it, that the room had been +occupied a few moments before he entered. The atmosphere over the desk +seemed to retain the disturbing influence of a human being; an +influence, moreover, so recent that he felt as if the cause of it were +still in his immediate neighbourhood. It was difficult to realise that +he was quite alone in the room and that somebody was not in hiding. The +finer counterparts of his senses warned him to act as if he were being +observed; he was dimly conscious of a desire to fidget and look round, +to keep his eyes in every part of the room at once, and to conduct +himself generally as if he were the object of careful human observation. + +How far he recognised the cause of these sensations it is impossible to +say; but they were sufficiently marked to prevent his carrying out a +strong inclination to get up and make a search of the room. He sat quite +still, staring alternately at the backs of the books, and at the red +curtains; wondering all the time if he was really being watched, or if +it was only the imagination playing tricks with him. + +A full quarter of an hour passed, and then twenty rows of volumes +suddenly shifted out towards him, and he saw that a door had opened in +the wall opposite. The books were only sham backs after all, and when +they moved back again with the sliding door, Shorthouse saw the figure +of Joel Garvey standing before him. + +Surprise almost took his breath away. He had expected to see an +unpleasant, even a vicious apparition with the mark of the beast +unmistakably upon its face; but he was wholly unprepared for the +elderly, tall, fine-looking man who stood in front of him--well-groomed, +refined, vigorous, with a lofty forehead, clear grey eyes, and a hooked +nose dominating a clean shaven mouth and chin of considerable +character--a distinguished looking man altogether. + +"I'm afraid I've kept you waiting, Mr. Shorthouse," he said in a +pleasant voice, but with no trace of a smile in the mouth or eyes. "But +the fact is, you know, I've a mania for chemistry, and just when you +were announced I was at the most critical moment of a problem and was +really compelled to bring it to a conclusion." + +Shorthouse had risen to meet him, but the other motioned him to resume +his seat. It was borne in upon him irresistibly that Mr. Joel Garvey, +for reasons best known to himself, was deliberately lying, and he could +not help wondering at the necessity for such an elaborate +misrepresentation. He took off his overcoat and sat down. + +"I've no doubt, too, that the door startled you," Garvey went on, +evidently reading something of his guest's feelings in his face. "You +probably had not suspected it. It leads into my little laboratory. +Chemistry is an absorbing study to me, and I spend most of my time +there." Mr. Garvey moved up to the armchair on the opposite side of the +fireplace and sat down. + +Shorthouse made appropriate answers to these remarks, but his mind was +really engaged in taking stock of Mr. Sidebotham's old-time partner. So +far there was no sign of mental irregularity and there was certainly +nothing about him to suggest violent wrong-doing or coarseness of +living. On the whole, Mr. Sidebotham's secretary was most pleasantly +surprised, and, wishing to conclude his business as speedily as +possible, he made a motion towards the bag for the purpose of opening +it, when his companion interrupted him quickly-- + +"You are Mr. Sidebotham's _private_ secretary, are you not?" he asked. + +Shorthouse replied that he was. "Mr. Sidebotham," he went on to explain, +"has entrusted me with the papers in the case and I have the honour to +return to you your letter of a week ago." He handed the letter to +Garvey, who took it without a word and deliberately placed it in the +fire. He was not aware that the secretary was ignorant of its contents, +yet his face betrayed no signs of feeling. Shorthouse noticed, however, +that his eyes never left the fire until the last morsel had been +consumed. Then he looked up and said, "You are familiar then with the +facts of this most peculiar case?" + +Shorthouse saw no reason to confess his ignorance. + +"I have all the papers, Mr. Garvey," he replied, taking them out of the +bag, "and I should be very glad if we could transact our business as +speedily as possible. If you will cut out your signature I--" + +"One moment, please," interrupted the other. "I must, before we proceed +further, consult some papers in my laboratory. If you will allow me to +leave you alone a few minutes for this purpose we can conclude the whole +matter in a very short time." + +Shorthouse did not approve of this further delay, but he had no option +than to acquiesce, and when Garvey had left the room by the private door +he sat and waited with the papers in his hand. The minutes went by and +the other did not return. To pass the time he thought of taking the +false packet from his coat to see that the papers were in order, and the +move was indeed almost completed, when something--he never knew +what--warned him to desist. The feeling again came over him that he was +being watched, and he leaned back in his chair with the bag on his knees +and waited with considerable impatience for the other's return. For more +than twenty minutes he waited, and when at length the door opened and +Garvey appeared, with profuse apologies for the delay, he saw by the +clock that only a few minutes still remained of the time he had allowed +himself to catch the last train. + +"Now I am completely at your service," he said pleasantly; "you must, of +course, know, Mr. Shorthouse, that one cannot be too careful in matters +of this kind--especially," he went on, speaking very slowly and +impressively, "in dealing with a man like my former partner, whose mind, +as you doubtless may have discovered, is at times very sadly affected." + +Shorthouse made no reply to this. He felt that the other was watching +him as a cat watches a mouse. + +"It is almost a wonder to me," Garvey added, "that he is still at large. +Unless he has greatly improved it can hardly be safe for those who are +closely associated with him." + +The other began to feel uncomfortable. Either this was the other side of +the story, or it was the first signs of mental irresponsibility. + +"All business matters of importance require the utmost care in my +opinion, Mr. Garvey," he said at length, cautiously. + +"Ah! then, as I thought, you have had a great deal to put up with from +him," Garvey said, with his eyes fixed on his companion's face. "And, no +doubt, he is still as bitter against me as he was years ago when the +disease first showed itself?" + +Although this last remark was a deliberate question and the questioner +was waiting with fixed eyes for an answer, Shorthouse elected to take +no notice of it. Without a word he pulled the elastic band from the blue +envelope with a snap and plainly showed his desire to conclude the +business as soon as possible. The tendency on the other's part to delay +did not suit him at all. + +"But never personal violence, I trust, Mr. Shorthouse," he added. + +"Never." + +"I'm glad to hear it," Garvey said in a sympathetic voice, "very glad to +hear it. And now," he went on, "if you are ready we can transact this +little matter of business before dinner. It will only take a moment." + +He drew a chair up to the desk and sat down, taking a pair of scissors +from a drawer. His companion approached with the papers in his hand, +unfolding them as he came. Garvey at once took them from him, and after +turning over a few pages he stopped and cut out a piece of writing at +the bottom of the last sheet but one. + +Holding it up to him Shorthouse read the words "Joel Garvey" in faded +ink. + +"There! That's my signature," he said, "and I've cut it out. It must be +nearly twenty years since I wrote it, and now I'm going to burn it." + +He went to the fire and stooped over to burn the little slip of paper, +and while he watched it being consumed Shorthouse put the real papers in +his pocket and slipped the imitation ones into the bag. Garvey turned +just in time to see this latter movement. + +"I'm putting the papers back," Shorthouse said quietly; "you've done +with them, I think." + +"Certainly," he replied as, completely deceived, he saw the blue +envelope disappear into the black bag and watched Shorthouse turn the +key. "They no longer have the slightest interest for me." As he spoke he +moved over to the sideboard, and pouring himself out a small glass of +whisky asked his visitor if he might do the same for him. But the +visitor declined and was already putting on his overcoat when Garvey +turned with genuine surprise on his face. + +"You surely are not going back to New York to-night, Mr. Shorthouse?" he +said, in a voice of astonishment. + +"I've just time to catch the 7.15 if I'm quick." + +"But I never heard of such a thing," Garvey said. "Of course I took it +for granted that you would stay the night." + +"It's kind of you," said Shorthouse, "but really I must return to-night. +I never expected to stay." + +The two men stood facing each other. Garvey pulled out his watch. + +"I'm exceedingly sorry," he said; "but, upon my word, I took it for +granted you would stay. I ought to have said so long ago. I'm such a +lonely fellow and so little accustomed to visitors that I fear I forgot +my manners altogether. But in any case, Mr. Shorthouse, you cannot catch +the 7.15, for it's already after six o'clock, and that's the last train +to-night." Garvey spoke very quickly, almost eagerly, but his voice +sounded genuine. + +"There's time if I walk quickly," said the young man with decision, +moving towards the door. He glanced at his watch as he went. Hitherto he +had gone by the clock on the mantelpiece. To his dismay he saw that it +was, as his host had said, long after six. The clock was half an hour +slow, and he realised at once that it was no longer possible to catch +the train. + +Had the hands of the clock been moved back intentionally? Had he been +purposely detained? Unpleasant thoughts flashed into his brain and made +him hesitate before taking the next step. His employer's warning rang in +his ears. The alternative was six miles along a lonely road in the +dark, or a night under Garvey's roof. The former seemed a direct +invitation to catastrophe, if catastrophe there was planned to be. The +latter--well, the choice was certainly small. One thing, however, he +realised, was plain--he must show neither fear nor hesitancy. + +"My watch must have gained," he observed quietly, turning the hands back +without looking up. "It seems I have certainly missed that train and +shall be obliged to throw myself upon your hospitality. But, believe me, +I had no intention of putting you out to any such extent." + +"I'm delighted," the other said. "Defer to the judgment of an older man +and make yourself comfortable for the night. There's a bitter storm +outside, and you don't put me out at all. On the contrary it's a great +pleasure. I have so little contact with the outside world that it's +really a god-send to have you." + +The man's face changed as he spoke. His manner was cordial and sincere. +Shorthouse began to feel ashamed of his doubts and to read between the +lines of his employer's warning. He took off his coat and the two men +moved to the armchairs beside the fire. + +"You see," Garvey went on in a lowered voice, "I understand your +hesitancy perfectly. I didn't know Sidebotham all those years without +knowing a good deal about him--perhaps more than you do. I've no doubt, +now, he filled your mind with all sorts of nonsense about me--probably +told you that I was the greatest villain unhung, eh? and all that sort +of thing? Poor fellow! He was a fine sort before his mind became +unhinged. One of his fancies used to be that everybody else was insane, +or just about to become insane. Is he still as bad as that?" + +"Few men," replied Shorthouse, with the manner of making a great +confidence, but entirely refusing to be drawn, "go through his +experiences and reach his age without entertaining delusions of one kind +or another." + +"Perfectly true," said Garvey. "Your observation is evidently keen." + +"Very keen indeed," Shorthouse replied, taking his cue neatly; "but, of +course, there are some things"--and here he looked cautiously over his +shoulder--"there are some things one cannot talk about too +circumspectly." + +"I understand perfectly and respect your reserve." + +There was a little more conversation and then Garvey got up and excused +himself on the plea of superintending the preparation of the bedroom. + +"It's quite an event to have a visitor in the house, and I want to make +you as comfortable as possible," he said. "Marx will do better for a +little supervision. And," he added with a laugh as he stood in the +doorway, "I want you to carry back a good account to Sidebotham." + + + +II + +The tall form disappeared and the door was shut. The conversation of the +past few minutes had come somewhat as a revelation to the secretary. +Garvey seemed in full possession of normal instincts. There was no doubt +as to the sincerity of his manner and intentions. The suspicions of the +first hour began to vanish like mist before the sun. Sidebotham's +portentous warnings and the mystery with which he surrounded the whole +episode had been allowed to unduly influence his mind. The loneliness of +the situation and the bleak nature of the surroundings had helped to +complete the illusion. He began to be ashamed of his suspicions and a +change commenced gradually to be wrought in his thoughts. Anyhow a +dinner and a bed were preferable to six miles in the dark, no dinner, +and a cold train into the bargain. + +Garvey returned presently. "We'll do the best we can for you," he said, +dropping into the deep armchair on the other side of the fire. "Marx is +a good servant if you watch him all the time. You must always stand over +a Jew, though, if you want things done properly. They're tricky and +uncertain unless they're working for their own interest. But Marx might +be worse, I'll admit. He's been with me for nearly twenty years--cook, +valet, housemaid, and butler all in one. In the old days, you know, he +was a clerk in our office in Chicago." + +Garvey rattled on and Shorthouse listened with occasional remarks thrown +in. The former seemed pleased to have somebody to talk to and the sound +of his own voice was evidently sweet music in his ears. After a few +minutes, he crossed over to the sideboard and again took up the decanter +of whisky, holding it to the light. "You will join me this time," he +said pleasantly, pouring out two glasses, "it will give us an appetite +for dinner," and this time Shorthouse did not refuse. The liquor was +mellow and soft and the men took two glasses apiece. + +"Excellent," remarked the secretary. + +"Glad you appreciate it," said the host, smacking his lips. "It's very +old whisky, and I rarely touch it when I'm alone. But this," he added, +"is a special occasion, isn't it?" + +Shorthouse was in the act of putting his glass down when something drew +his eyes suddenly to the other's face. A strange note in the man's voice +caught his attention and communicated alarm to his nerves. A new light +shone in Garvey's eyes and there flitted momentarily across his strong +features the shadow of something that set the secretary's nerves +tingling. A mist spread before his eyes and the unaccountable belief +rose strong in him that he was staring into the visage of an untamed +animal. Close to his heart there was something that was wild, fierce, +savage. An involuntary shiver ran over him and seemed to dispel the +strange fancy as suddenly as it had come. He met the other's eye with a +smile, the counterpart of which in his heart was vivid horror. + +"It _is_ a special occasion," he said, as naturally as possible, "and, +allow me to add, very special whisky." + +Garvey appeared delighted. He was in the middle of a devious tale +describing how the whisky came originally into his possession when the +door opened behind them and a grating voice announced that dinner was +ready. They followed the cassocked form of Marx across the dirty hall, +lit only by the shaft of light that followed them from the library door, +and entered a small room where a single lamp stood upon a table laid for +dinner. The walls were destitute of pictures, and the windows had +Venetian blinds without curtains. There was no fire in the grate, and +when the men sat down facing each other Shorthouse noticed that, while +his own cover was laid with its due proportion of glasses and cutlery, +his companion had nothing before him but a soup plate, without fork, +knife, or spoon beside it. + +"I don't know what there is to offer you," he said; "but I'm sure Marx +has done the best he can at such short notice. I only eat one course for +dinner, but pray take your time and enjoy your food." + +Marx presently set a plate of soup before the guest, yet so loathsome +was the immediate presence of this old Hebrew servitor, that the +spoonfuls disappeared somewhat slowly. Garvey sat and watched him. + +Shorthouse said the soup was delicious and bravely swallowed another +mouthful. In reality his thoughts were centred upon his companion, whose +manners were giving evidence of a gradual and curious change. There was +a decided difference in his demeanour, a difference that the secretary +_felt_ at first, rather than saw. Garvey's quiet self-possession was +giving place to a degree of suppressed excitement that seemed so far +inexplicable. His movements became quick and nervous, his eye shifting +and strangely brilliant, and his voice, when he spoke, betrayed an +occasional deep tremor. Something unwonted was stirring within him and +evidently demanding every moment more vigorous manifestation as the meal +proceeded. + +Intuitively Shorthouse was afraid of this growing excitement, and while +negotiating some uncommonly tough pork chops he tried to lead the +conversation on to the subject of chemistry, of which in his Oxford days +he had been an enthusiastic student. His companion, however, would none +of it. It seemed to have lost interest for him, and he would barely +condescend to respond. When Marx presently returned with a plate of +steaming eggs and bacon the subject dropped of its own accord. + +"An inadequate dinner dish," Garvey said, as soon as the man was gone; +"but better than nothing, I hope." + +Shorthouse remarked that he was exceedingly fond of bacon and eggs, and, +looking up with the last word, saw that Garvey's face was twitching +convulsively and that he was almost wriggling in his chair. He quieted +down, however, under the secretary's gaze and observed, though evidently +with an effort-- + +"Very good of you to say so. Wish I could join you, only I never eat +such stuff. I only take one course for dinner." + +Shorthouse began to feel some curiosity as to what the nature of this +one course might be, but he made no further remark and contented himself +with noting mentally that his companion's excitement seemed to be +rapidly growing beyond his control. There was something uncanny about +it, and he began to wish he had chosen the alternative of the walk to +the station. + +"I'm glad to see you never speak when Marx is in the room," said Garvey +presently. "I'm sure it's better not. Don't you think so?" + +He appeared to wait eagerly for the answer. + +"Undoubtedly," said the puzzled secretary. + +"Yes," the other went on quickly. "He's an excellent man, but he has +one drawback--a really horrid one. You may--but, no, you could hardly +have noticed it yet." + +"Not drink, I trust," said Shorthouse, who would rather have discussed +any other subject than the odious Jew. + +"Worse than that a great deal," Garvey replied, evidently expecting the +other to draw him out. But Shorthouse was in no mood to hear anything +horrible, and he declined to step into the trap. + +"The best of servants have their faults," he said coldly. + +"I'll tell you what it is if you like," Garvey went on, still speaking +very low and leaning forward over the table so that his face came close +to the flame of the lamp, "only we must speak quietly in case he's +listening. I'll tell you what it is--if you think you won't be +frightened." + +"Nothing frightens me," he laughed. (Garvey must understand that at all +events.) "Nothing can frighten me," he repeated. + +"I'm glad of that; for it frightens _me_ a good deal sometimes." + +Shorthouse feigned indifference. Yet he was aware that his heart was +beating a little quicker and that there was a sensation of chilliness in +his back. He waited in silence for what was to come. + +"He has a horrible predilection for vacuums," Garvey went on presently +in a still lower voice and thrusting his face farther forward under the +lamp. + +"Vacuums!" exclaimed the secretary in spite of himself. "What in the +world do you mean?" + +"What I say of course. He's always tumbling into them, so that I can't +find him or get at him. He hides there for hours at a time, and for the +life of me I can't make out what he does there." + +Shorthouse stared his companion straight in the eyes. What in the name +of Heaven was he talking about? + +"Do you suppose he goes there for a change of air, or--or to escape?" he +went on in a louder voice. + +Shorthouse could have laughed outright but for the expression of the +other's face. + +"I should not think there was much air of any sort in a vacuum," he said +quietly. + +"That's exactly what _I_ feel," continued Garvey with ever growing +excitement. "That's the horrid part of it. How the devil does he live +there? You see--" + +"Have you ever followed him there?" interrupted the secretary. The +other leaned back in his chair and drew a deep sigh. + +"Never! It's impossible. You see I can't follow him. There's not room +for two. A vacuum only holds one comfortably. Marx knows that. He's out +of my reach altogether once he's fairly inside. He knows the best side +of a bargain. He's a regular Jew." + +"That is a drawback to a servant, of course--" Shorthouse spoke slowly, +with his eyes on his plate. + +"A drawback," interrupted the other with an ugly chuckle, "I call it a +draw-in, that's what I call it." + +"A draw-in does seem a more accurate term," assented Shorthouse. "But," +he went on, "I thought that nature abhorred a vacuum. She used to, when +I was at school--though perhaps--it's so long ago--" + +He hesitated and looked up. Something in Garvey's face--something he had +_felt_ before he looked up--stopped his tongue and froze the words in +his throat. His lips refused to move and became suddenly dry. Again the +mist rose before his eyes and the appalling shadow dropped its veil over +the face before him. Garvey's features began to burn and glow. Then they +seemed to coarsen and somehow slip confusedly together. He stared for a +second--it seemed only for a second--into the visage of a ferocious and +abominable animal; and then, as suddenly as it had come, the filthy +shadow of the beast passed off, the mist melted out, and with a mighty +effort over his nerves he forced himself to finish his sentence. + +"You see it's so long since I've given attention to such things," he +stammered. His heart was beating rapidly, and a feeling of oppression +was gathering over it. + +"It's my peculiar and special study on the other hand," Garvey resumed. +"I've not spent all these years in my laboratory to no purpose, I can +assure you. Nature, I know for a fact," he added with unnatural warmth, +"does _not_ abhor a vacuum. On the contrary, she's uncommonly fond of +'em, much too fond, it seems, for the comfort of my little household. If +there were fewer vacuums and more abhorrence we should get on better--a +damned sight better in my opinion." + +"Your special knowledge, no doubt, enables you to speak with authority," +Shorthouse said, curiosity and alarm warring with other mixed feelings +in his mind; "but how _can_ a man tumble into a vacuum?" + +"You may well ask. That's just it. How can he? It's preposterous and I +can't make it out at all. Marx knows, but he won't tell me. Jews know +more than we do. For my part I have reason to believe--" He stopped and +listened. "Hush! here he comes," he added, rubbing his hands together as +if in glee and fidgeting in his chair. + +Steps were heard coming down the passage, and as they approached the +door Garvey seemed to give himself completely over to an excitement he +could not control. His eyes were fixed on the door and he began +clutching the tablecloth with both hands. Again his face was screened by +the loathsome shadow. It grew wild, wolfish. As through a mask, that +concealed, and yet was thin enough to let through a suggestion of, the +beast crouching behind, there leaped into his countenance the strange +look of the animal in the human--the expression of the were-wolf, the +monster. The change in all its loathsomeness came rapidly over his +features, which began to lose their outline. The nose flattened, +dropping with broad nostrils over thick lips. The face rounded, filled, +and became squat. The eyes, which, luckily for Shorthouse, no longer +sought his own, glowed with the light of untamed appetite and bestial +greed. The hands left the cloth and grasped the edges of the plate, and +then clutched the cloth again. + +"This is _my_ course coming now," said Garvey, in a deep guttural voice. +He was shivering. His upper lip was partly lifted and showed the teeth, +white and gleaming. + +A moment later the door opened and Marx hurried into the room and set a +dish in front of his master. Garvey half rose to meet him, stretching +out his hands and grinning horribly. With his mouth he made a sound like +the snarl of an animal. The dish before him was steaming, but the slight +vapour rising from it betrayed by its odour that it was not born of a +fire of coals. It was the natural heat of flesh warmed by the fires of +life only just expelled. The moment the dish rested on the table Garvey +pushed away his own plate and drew the other up close under his mouth. +Then he seized the food in both hands and commenced to tear it with his +teeth, grunting as he did so. Shorthouse closed his eyes, with a feeling +of nausea. When he looked up again the lips and jaw of the man opposite +were stained with crimson. The whole man was transformed. A feasting +tiger, starved and ravenous, but without a tiger's grace--this was what +he watched for several minutes, transfixed with horror and disgust. + +Marx had already taken his departure, knowing evidently what was not +good for the eyes to look upon, and Shorthouse knew at last that he was +sitting face to face with a madman. + +The ghastly meal was finished in an incredibly short time and nothing +was left but a tiny pool of red liquid rapidly hardening. Garvey leaned +back heavily in his chair and sighed. His smeared face, withdrawn now +from the glare of the lamp, began to resume its normal appearance. +Presently he looked up at his guest and said in his natural voice-- + +"I hope you've had enough to eat. You wouldn't care for this, you know," +with a downward glance. + +Shorthouse met his eyes with an inward loathing, and it was impossible +not to show some of the repugnance he felt. In the other's face, +however, he thought he saw a subdued, cowed expression. But he found +nothing to say. + +"Marx will be in presently," Garvey went on. "He's either listening, or +in a vacuum." + +"Does he choose any particular time for his visits?" the secretary +managed to ask. + +"He generally goes after dinner; just about this time, in fact. But he's +not gone yet," he added, shrugging his shoulders, "for I think I hear +him coming." + +Shorthouse wondered whether vacuum was possibly synonymous with wine +cellar, but gave no expression to his thoughts. With chills of horror +still running up and down his back, he saw Marx come in with a basin and +towel, while Garvey thrust up his face just as an animal puts up its +muzzle to be rubbed. + +"Now we'll have coffee in the library, if you're ready," he said, in the +tone of a gentleman addressing his guests after a dinner party. + +Shorthouse picked up the bag, which had lain all this time between his +feet, and walked through the door his host held open for him. Side by +side they crossed the dark hall together, and, to his disgust, Garvey +linked an arm in his, and with his face so close to the secretary's ear +that he felt the warm breath, said in a thick voice-- + +"You're uncommonly careful with that bag, Mr. Shorthouse. It surely must +contain something more than the bundle of papers." + +"Nothing but the papers," he answered, feeling the hand burning upon his +arm and wishing he were miles away from the house and its abominable +occupants. + +"Quite sure?" asked the other with an odious and suggestive chuckle. "Is +there any meat in it, fresh meat--raw meat?" + +The secretary felt, somehow, that at the least sign of fear the beast on +his arm would leap upon him and tear him with his teeth. + +"Nothing of the sort," he answered vigorously. "It wouldn't hold enough +to feed a cat." + +"True," said Garvey with a vile sigh, while the other felt the hand upon +his arm twitch up and down as if feeling the flesh. "True, it's too +small to be of any real use. As you say, it wouldn't hold enough to feed +a cat." + +Shorthouse was unable to suppress a cry. The muscles of his fingers, +too, relaxed in spite of himself and he let the black bag drop with a +bang to the floor. Garvey instantly withdrew his arm and turned with a +quick movement. But the secretary had regained his control as suddenly +as he had lost it, and he met the maniac's eyes with a steady and +aggressive glare. + +"There, you see, it's quite light. It makes no appreciable noise when I +drop it." He picked it up and let it fall again, as if he had dropped it +for the first time purposely. The ruse was successful. + +"Yes. You're right," Garvey said, still standing in the doorway and +staring at him. "At any rate it wouldn't hold enough for two," he +laughed. And as he closed the door the horrid laughter echoed in the +empty hall. + +They sat down by a blazing fire and Shorthouse was glad to feel its +warmth. Marx presently brought in coffee. A glass of the old whisky and +a good cigar helped to restore equilibrium. For some minutes the men sat +in silence staring into the fire. Then, without looking up, Garvey said +in a quiet voice-- + +"I suppose it was a shock to you to see me eat raw meat like that. I +must apologise if it was unpleasant to you. But it's all I can eat and +it's the only meal I take in the twenty-four hours." + +"Best nourishment in the world, no doubt; though I should think it might +be a trifle strong for some stomachs." + +He tried to lead the conversation away from so unpleasant a subject, and +went on to talk rapidly of the values of different foods, of +vegetarianism and vegetarians, and of men who had gone for long periods +without any food at all. Garvey listened apparently without interest and +had nothing to say. At the first pause he jumped in eagerly. + +"When the hunger is really great on me," he said, still gazing into the +fire, "I simply cannot control myself. I must have raw meat--the first I +can get--" Here he raised his shining eyes and Shorthouse felt his hair +beginning to rise. + +"It comes upon me so suddenly too. I never can tell when to expect it. A +year ago the passion rose in me like a whirlwind and Marx was out and I +couldn't get meat. I had to get something or I should have bitten +myself. Just when it was getting unbearable my dog ran out from beneath +the sofa. It was a spaniel." + +Shorthouse responded with an effort. He hardly knew what he was saying +and his skin crawled as if a million ants were moving over it. + +There was a pause of several minutes. + +"I've bitten Marx all over," Garvey went on presently in his strange +quiet voice, and as if he were speaking of apples; "but he's bitter. I +doubt if the hunger could ever make me do it again. Probably that's what +first drove him to take shelter in a vacuum." He chuckled hideously as +he thought of this solution of his attendant's disappearances. + +Shorthouse seized the poker and poked the fire as if his life depended +on it. But when the banging and clattering was over Garvey continued his +remarks with the same calmness. The next sentence, however, was never +finished. The secretary had got upon his feet suddenly. + +"I shall ask your permission to retire," he said in a determined voice; +"I'm tired to-night; will you be good enough to show me to my room?" + +Garvey looked up at him with a curious cringing expression behind which +there shone the gleam of cunning passion. + +"Certainly," he said, rising from his chair. "You've had a tiring +journey. I ought to have thought of that before." + +He took the candle from the table and lit it, and the fingers that held +the match trembled. + +"We needn't trouble Marx," he explained. "That beast's in his vacuum by +this time." + + + +III + +They crossed the hall and began to ascend the carpetless wooden stairs. +They were in the well of the house and the air cut like ice. Garvey, +the flickering candle in his hand throwing his face into strong outline, +led the way across the first landing and opened a door near the mouth of +a dark passage. A pleasant room greeted the visitor's eyes, and he +rapidly took in its points while his host walked over and lit two +candles that stood on a table at the foot of the bed. A fire burned +brightly in the grate. There were two windows, opening like doors, in +the wall opposite, and a high canopied bed occupied most of the space on +the right. Panelling ran all round the room reaching nearly to the +ceiling and gave a warm and cosy appearance to the whole; while the +portraits that stood in alternate panels suggested somehow the +atmosphere of an old country house in England. Shorthouse was agreeably +surprised. + +"I hope you'll find everything you need," Garvey was saying in the +doorway. "If not, you have only to ring that bell by the fireplace. Marx +won't hear it of course, but it rings in my laboratory, where I spend +most of the night." + +Then, with a brief good-night, he went out and shut the door after him. +The instant he was gone Mr. Sidebotham's private secretary did a +peculiar thing. He planted himself in the middle of the room with his +back to the door, and drawing the pistol swiftly from his hip pocket +levelled it across his left arm at the window. Standing motionless in +this position for thirty seconds he then suddenly swerved right round +and faced in the other direction, pointing his pistol straight at the +keyhole of the door. There followed immediately a sound of shuffling +outside and of steps retreating across the landing. + +"On his knees at the keyhole," was the secretary's reflection. "Just as +I thought. But he didn't expect to look down the barrel of a pistol and +it made him jump a little." + +As soon as the steps had gone downstairs and died away across the hall, +Shorthouse went over and locked the door, stuffing a piece of crumpled +paper into the second keyhole which he saw immediately above the first. +After that, he made a thorough search of the room. It hardly repaid the +trouble, for he found nothing unusual. Yet he was glad he had made it. +It relieved him to find no one was in hiding under the bed or in the +deep oak cupboard; and he hoped sincerely it was not the cupboard in +which the unfortunate spaniel had come to its vile death. The French +windows, he discovered, opened on to a little balcony. It looked on to +the front, and there was a drop of less than twenty feet to the ground +below. The bed was high and wide, soft as feathers and covered with +snowy sheets--very inviting to a tired man; and beside the blazing fire +were a couple of deep armchairs. + +Altogether it was very pleasant and comfortable; but, tired though he +was, Shorthouse had no intention of going to bed. It was impossible to +disregard the warning of his nerves. They had never failed him before, +and when that sense of distressing horror lodged in his bones he knew +there was something in the wind and that a red flag was flying over the +immediate future. Some delicate instrument in his being, more subtle +than the senses, more accurate than mere presentiment, had seen the red +flag and interpreted its meaning. + +Again it seemed to him, as he sat in an armchair over the fire, that his +movements were being carefully watched from somewhere; and, not knowing +what weapons might be used against him, he felt that his real safety lay +in a rigid control of his mind and feelings and a stout refusal to admit +that he was in the least alarmed. + +The house was very still. As the night wore on the wind dropped. Only +occasional bursts of sleet against the windows reminded him that the +elements were awake and uneasy. Once or twice the windows rattled and +the rain hissed in the fire, but the roar of the wind in the chimney +grew less and less and the lonely building was at last lapped in a great +stillness. The coals clicked, settling themselves deeper in the grate, +and the noise of the cinders dropping with a tiny report into the soft +heap of accumulated ashes was the only sound that punctuated the +silence. + +In proportion as the power of sleep grew upon him the dread of the +situation lessened; but so imperceptibly, so gradually, and so +insinuatingly that he scarcely realised the change. He thought he was as +wide awake to his danger as ever. The successful exclusion of horrible +mental pictures of what he had seen he attributed to his rigorous +control, instead of to their true cause, the creeping over him of the +soft influences of sleep. The faces in the coals were so soothing; the +armchair was so comfortable; so sweet the breath that gently pressed +upon his eyelids; so subtle the growth of the sensation of safety. He +settled down deeper into the chair and in another moment would have been +asleep when the red flag began to shake violently to and fro and he sat +bolt upright as if he had been stabbed in the back. + +Someone was coming up the stairs. The boards creaked beneath a stealthy +weight. + +Shorthouse sprang from the chair and crossed the room swiftly, taking up +his position beside the door, but out of range of the keyhole. The two +candles flared unevenly on the table at the foot of the bed. The steps +were slow and cautious--it seemed thirty seconds between each one--but +the person who was taking them was very close to the door. Already he +had topped the stairs and was shuffling almost silently across the bit +of landing. + +The secretary slipped his hand into his pistol pocket and drew back +further against the wall, and hardly had he completed the movement when +the sounds abruptly ceased and he knew that somebody was standing just +outside the door and preparing for a careful observation through the +keyhole. + +He was in no sense a coward. In action he was never afraid. It was the +waiting and wondering and the uncertainty that might have loosened his +nerves a little. But, somehow, a wave of intense horror swept over him +for a second as he thought of the bestial maniac and his attendant Jew; +and he would rather have faced a pack of wolves than have to do with +either of these men. + +Something brushing gently against the door set his nerves tingling +afresh and made him tighten his grasp on the pistol. The steel was cold +and slippery in his moist fingers. What an awful noise it would make +when he pulled the trigger! If the door were to open how close he would +be to the figure that came in! Yet he knew it was locked on the inside +and could not possibly open. Again something brushed against the panel +beside him and a second later the piece of crumpled paper fell from the +keyhole to the floor, while the piece of thin wire that had accomplished +this result showed its point for a moment in the room and was then +swiftly withdrawn. + +Somebody was evidently peering now through the keyhole, and realising +this fact the spirit of attack entered into the heart of the beleaguered +man. Raising aloft his right hand he brought it suddenly down with a +resounding crash upon the panel of the door next the keyhole--a crash +that, to the crouching eavesdropper, must have seemed like a clap of +thunder out of a clear sky. There was a gasp and a slight lurching +against the door and the midnight listener rose startled and alarmed, +for Shorthouse plainly heard the tread of feet across the landing and +down the stairs till they were lost in the silences of the hall. Only, +this time, it seemed to him there were four feet instead of two. + +Quickly stuffing the paper back into the keyhole, he was in the act of +walking back to the fireplace when, over his shoulder, he caught sight +of a white face pressed in outline against the outside of the window. It +was blurred in the streams of sleet, but the white of the moving eyes +was unmistakable. He turned instantly to meet it, but the face was +withdrawn like a flash, and darkness rushed in to fill the gap where it +had appeared. + +"Watched on both sides," he reflected. + +But he was not to be surprised into any sudden action, and quietly +walking over to the fireplace as if he had seen nothing unusual he +stirred the coals a moment and then strolled leisurely over to the +window. Steeling his nerves, which quivered a moment in spite of his +will, he opened the window and stepped out on to the balcony. The wind, +which he thought had dropped, rushed past him into the room and +extinguished one of the candles, while a volley of fine cold rain burst +all over his face. At first he could see nothing, and the darkness came +close up to his eyes like a wall. He went a little farther on to the +balcony and drew the window after him till it clashed. Then he stood and +waited. + +But nothing touched him. No one seemed to be there. His eyes got +accustomed to the blackness and he was able to make out the iron +railing, the dark shapes of the trees beyond, and the faint light coming +from the other window. Through this he peered into the room, walking the +length of the balcony to do so. Of course he was standing in a shaft of +light and whoever was crouching in the darkness below could plainly see +him. _Below?_--That there should be anyone _above_ did not occur to him +until, just as he was preparing to go in again, he became aware that +something was moving in the darkness over his head. He looked up, +instinctively raising a protecting arm, and saw a long black line +swinging against the dim wall of the house. The shutters of the window +on the next floor, whence it depended, were thrown open and moving +backwards and forwards in the wind. The line was evidently a thickish +cord, for as he looked it was pulled in and the end disappeared in the +darkness. + +Shorthouse, trying to whistle to himself, peered over the edge of the +balcony as if calculating the distance he might have to drop, and then +calmly walked into the room again and closed the window behind him, +leaving the latch so that the lightest touch would cause it to fly open. +He relit the candle and drew a straight-backed chair up to the table. +Then he put coal on the fire and stirred it up into a royal blaze. He +would willingly have folded the shutters over those staring windows at +his back. But that was out of the question. It would have been to cut +off his way of escape. + +Sleep, for the time, was at a disadvantage. His brain was full of blood +and every nerve was tingling. He felt as if countless eyes were upon him +and scores of stained hands were stretching out from the corners and +crannies of the house to seize him. Crouching figures, figures of +hideous Jews, stood everywhere about him where shelter was, creeping +forward out of the shadows when he was not looking and retreating +swiftly and silently when he turned his head. Wherever he looked, other +eyes met his own, and though they melted away under his steady, +confident gaze, he knew they would wax and draw in upon him the instant +his glances weakened and his will wavered. + +Though there were no sounds, he knew that in the well of the house there +was movement going on, _and preparation_. And this knowledge, inasmuch +as it came to him irresistibly and through other and more subtle +channels than those of the senses kept the sense of horror fresh in his +blood and made him alert and awake. + +But, no matter how great the dread in the heart, the power of sleep will +eventually overcome it. Exhausted nature is irresistible, and as the +minutes wore on and midnight passed, he realised that nature was +vigorously asserting herself and sleep was creeping upon him from the +extremities. + +To lessen the danger he took out his pencil and began to draw the +articles of furniture in the room. He worked into elaborate detail the +cupboard, the mantelpiece, and the bed, and from these he passed on to +the portraits. Being possessed of genuine skill, he found the occupation +sufficiently absorbing. It kept the blood in his brain, and that kept +him awake. The pictures, moreover, now that he considered them for the +first time, were exceedingly well painted. Owing to the dim light, he +centred his attention upon the portraits beside the fireplace. On the +right was a woman, with a sweet, gentle face and a figure of great +refinement; on the left was a full-size figure of a big handsome man +with a full beard and wearing a hunting costume of ancient date. + +From time to time he turned to the windows behind him, but the vision of +the face was not repeated. More than once, too, he went to the door and +listened, but the silence was so profound in the house that he gradually +came to believe the plan of attack had been abandoned. Once he went out +on to the balcony, but the sleet stung his face and he only had time to +see that the shutters above were closed, when he was obliged to seek the +shelter of the room again. + +In this way the hours passed. The fire died down and the room grew +chilly. Shorthouse had made several sketches of the two heads and was +beginning to feel overpoweringly weary. His feet and his hands were cold +and his yawns were prodigious. It seemed ages and ages since the steps +had come to listen at his door and the face had watched him from the +window. A feeling of safety had somehow come to him. In reality he was +exhausted. His one desire was to drop upon the soft white bed and yield +himself up to sleep without any further struggle. + +He rose from his chair with a series of yawns that refused to be stifled +and looked at his watch. It was close upon three in the morning. He made +up his mind that he would lie down with his clothes on and get some +sleep. It was safe enough, the door was locked on the inside and the +window was fastened. Putting the bag on the table near his pillow he +blew out the candles and dropped with a sense of careless and delicious +exhaustion upon the soft mattress. In five minutes he was sound asleep. + +There had scarcely been time for the dreams to come when he found +himself lying side-ways across the bed with wide open eyes staring into +the darkness. Someone had touched him, and he had writhed away in his +sleep as from something unholy. The movement had awakened him. + +The room was simply black. No light came from the windows and the fire +had gone out as completely as if water had been poured upon it. He gazed +into a sheet of impenetrable darkness that came close up to his face +like a wall. + +His first thought was for the papers in his coat and his hand flew to +the pocket. They were safe; and the relief caused by this discovery left +his mind instantly free for other reflections. + +And the realisation that at once came to him with a touch of dismay was, +that during his sleep some definite _change_ had been effected in the +room. He felt this with that intuitive certainty which amounts to +positive knowledge. The room was utterly still, but the corroboration +that was speedily brought to him seemed at once to fill the darkness +with a whispering, secret life that chilled his blood and made the +sheet feel like ice against his cheek. + +Hark! This was it; there reached his ears, in which the blood was +already buzzing with warning clamour, a dull murmur of something that +rose indistinctly from the well of the house and became audible to him +without passing through walls or doors. There seemed no solid surface +between him, lying on the bed, and the landing; between the landing and +the stairs, and between the stairs and the hall beyond. + +He knew that the door of the room _was standing open_! Therefore it had +been opened from the _inside_. Yet the window was fastened, also on the +inside. + +Hardly was this realised when the conspiring silence of the hour was +broken by another and a more definite sound. A step was coming along the +passage. A certain bruise on the hip told Shorthouse that the pistol in +his pocket was ready for use and he drew it out quickly and cocked it. +Then he just had time to slip over the edge of the bed and crouch down +on the floor when the step halted on the threshold of the room. The bed +was thus between him and the open door. The window was at his back. + +He waited in the darkness. What struck him as peculiar about the steps +was that there seemed no particular desire to move stealthily. There was +no extreme caution. They moved along in rather a slipshod way and +sounded like soft slippers or feet in stockings. There was something +clumsy, irresponsible, almost reckless about the movement. + +For a second the steps paused upon the threshold, but only for a second. +Almost immediately they came on into the room, and as they passed from +the wood to the carpet Shorthouse noticed that they became wholly +noiseless. He waited in suspense, not knowing whether the unseen walker +was on the other side of the room or was close upon him. Presently he +stood up and stretched out his left arm in front of him, groping, +searching, feeling in a circle; and behind it he held the pistol, cocked +and pointed, in his right hand. As he rose a bone cracked in his knee, +his clothes rustled as if they were newspapers, and his breath seemed +loud enough to be heard all over the room. But not a sound came to +betray the position of the invisible intruder. + +Then, just when the tension was becoming unbearable, a noise relieved +the gripping silence. It was wood knocking against wood, and it came +from the farther end of the room. The steps had moved over to the +fireplace. A sliding sound almost immediately followed it and then +silence closed again over everything like a pall. + +For another five minutes Shorthouse waited, and then the suspense became +too much. He could not stand that open door! The candles were close +beside him and he struck a match and lit them, expecting in the sudden +glare to receive at least a terrific blow. But nothing happened, and he +saw at once that the room was entirely empty. Walking over with the +pistol cocked he peered out into the darkness of the landing and then +closed the door and turned the key. Then he searched the room--bed, +cupboard, table, curtains, everything that could have concealed a man; +but found no trace of the intruder. The owner of the footsteps had +disappeared like a ghost into the shadows of the night. But for one fact +he might have imagined that he had been dreaming: _the bag had +vanished_! + +There was no more sleep for Shorthouse that night. His watch pointed to +4 a.m. and there were still three hours before daylight. He sat down at +the table and continued his sketches. With fixed determination he went +on with his drawing and began a new outline of the man's head. There was +something in the expression that continually evaded him. He had no +success with it, and this time it seemed to him that it was the eyes +that brought about his discomfiture. He held up his pencil before his +face to measure the distance between the nose and the eyes, and to his +amazement he saw that a change had come over the features. The eyes were +no longer open. _The lids had closed!_ + +For a second he stood in a sort of stupefied astonishment. A push would +have toppled him over. Then he sprang to his feet and held a candle +close up to the picture. The eye-lids quivered, the eye-lashes trembled. +Then, right before his gaze, the eyes opened and looked straight into +his own. Two holes were cut in the panel and this pair of eyes, human +eyes, just fitted them. + +As by a curious effect of magic, the strong fear that had governed him +ever since his entry into the house disappeared in a second. Anger +rushed into his heart and his chilled blood rose suddenly to boiling +point. Putting the candle down, he took two steps back into the room and +then flung himself forward with all his strength against the painted +panel. Instantly, and before the crash came, the eyes were withdrawn, +and two black spaces showed where they had been. The old huntsman was +eyeless. But the panel cracked and split inwards like a sheet of thin +cardboard; and Shorthouse, pistol in hand, thrust an arm through the +jagged aperture and, seizing a human leg, dragged out into the room--the +Jew! + +Words rushed in such a torrent to his lips that they choked him. The old +Hebrew, white as chalk, stood shaking before him, the bright pistol +barrel opposite his eyes, when a volume of cold air rushed into the +room, and with it a sound of hurried steps. Shorthouse felt his arm +knocked up before he had time to turn, and the same second Garvey, who +had somehow managed to burst open the window came between him and the +trembling Marx. His lips were parted and his eyes rolled strangely in +his distorted face. + +"Don't shoot him! Shoot in the air!" he shrieked. He seized the Jew by +the shoulders. + +"You damned hound," he roared, hissing in his face. "So I've got you at +last. That's where your vacuum is, is it? I know your vile hiding-place +at last." He shook him like a dog. "I've been after him all night," he +cried, turning to Shorthouse, "all night, I tell you, and I've got him +at last." + +Garvey lifted his upper lip as he spoke and showed his teeth. They shone +like the fangs of a wolf. The Jew evidently saw them too, for he gave a +horrid yell and struggled furiously. + +Before the eyes of the secretary a mist seemed to rise. The hideous +shadow again leaped into Garvey's face. He foresaw a dreadful battle, +and covering the two men with his pistol he retreated slowly to the +door. Whether they were both mad, or both criminal, he did not pause to +inquire. The only thought present in his mind was that the sooner he +made his escape the better. + +Garvey was still shaking the Jew when he reached the door and turned the +key, but as he passed out on to the landing both men stopped their +struggling and turned to face him. Garvey's face, bestial, loathsome, +livid with anger; the Jew's white and grey with fear and horror;--both +turned towards him and joined in a wild, horrible yell that woke the +echoes of the night. The next second they were after him at full speed. + +Shorthouse slammed the door in their faces and was at the foot of the +stairs, crouching in the shadow, before they were out upon the landing. +They tore shrieking down the stairs and past him, into the hall; and, +wholly unnoticed, Shorthouse whipped up the stairs again, crossed the +bedroom and dropped from the balcony into the soft snow. + +As he ran down the drive he heard behind him in the house the yells of +the maniacs; and when he reached home several hours later Mr. Sidebotham +not only raised his salary but also told him to buy a new hat and +overcoat, and send in the bill to him. + + + + +SKELETON LAKE: AN EPISODE IN CAMP + + +The utter loneliness of our moose-camp on Skeleton Lake had impressed us +from the beginning--in the Quebec backwoods, five days by trail and +canoe from civilisation--and perhaps the singular name contributed a +little to the sensation of eeriness that made itself felt in the camp +circle when once the sun was down and the late October mists began +rising from the lake and winding their way in among the tree trunks. + +For, in these regions, all names of lakes and hills and islands have +their origin in some actual event, taking either the name of a chief +participant, such as Smith's Ridge, or claiming a place in the map by +perpetuating some special feature of the journey or the scenery, such as +Long Island, Deep Rapids, or Rainy Lake. + +All names thus have their meaning and are usually pretty recently +acquired, while the majority are self-explanatory and suggest human and +pioneer relations. Skeleton Lake, therefore, was a name full of +suggestion, and though none of us knew the origin or the story of its +birth, we all were conscious of a certain lugubrious atmosphere that +haunted its shores and islands, and but for the evidences of recent +moose tracks in its neighbourhood we should probably have pitched our +tents elsewhere. + +For several hundred miles in any direction we knew of only one other +party of whites. They had journeyed up on the train with us, getting in +at North Bay, and hailing from Boston way. A common goal and object had +served by way of introduction. But the acquaintance had made little +progress. This noisy, aggressive Yankee did not suit our fancy much as a +possible neighbour, and it was only a slight intimacy between his chief +guide, Jake the Swede, and one of our men that kept the thing going at +all. They went into camp on Beaver Creek, fifty miles and more to the +west of us. + +But that was six weeks ago, and seemed as many months, for days and +nights pass slowly in these solitudes and the scale of time changes +wonderfully. Our men always seemed to know by instinct pretty well "whar +them other fellows was movin'," but in the interval no one had come +across their trails, or once so much as heard their rifle shots. + +Our little camp consisted of the professor, his wife, a splendid shot +and keen woods-woman, and myself. We had a guide apiece, and hunted +daily in pairs from before sunrise till dark. + +It was our last evening in the woods, and the professor was lying in my +little wedge tent, discussing the dangers of hunting alone in couples in +this way. The flap of the tent hung back and let in fragrant odours of +cooking over an open wood fire; everywhere there were bustle and +preparation, and one canoe already lay packed with moose horns, her nose +pointing southwards. + +"If an accident happened to one of them," he was saying, "the survivor's +story when he returned to camp would be entirely unsupported evidence, +wouldn't it? Because, you see--" + +And he went on laying down the law after the manner of professors, until +I became so bored that my attention began to wander to pictures and +memories of the scenes we were just about to leave: Garden Lake, with +its hundred islands; the rapids out of Round Pond; the countless vistas +of forest, crimson and gold in the autumn sunshine; and the starlit +nights we had spent watching in cold, cramped positions for the wary +moose on lonely lakes among the hills. The hum of the professor's voice +in time grew more soothing. A nod or a grunt was all the reply he looked +for. Fortunately, he loathed interruptions. I think I could almost have +gone to sleep under his very nose; perhaps I did sleep for a brief +interval. + +Then it all came about so quickly, and the tragedy of it was so +unexpected and painful, throwing our peaceful camp into momentary +confusion, that now it all seems to have happened with the uncanny +swiftness of a dream. + +First, there was the abrupt ceasing of the droning voice, and then the +running of quick little steps over the pine needles, and the confusion +of men's voices; and the next instant the professor's wife was at the +tent door, hatless, her face white, her hunting bloomers bagging at the +wrong places, a rifle in her hand, and her words running into one +another anyhow. + +"Quick, Harry! It's Rushton. I was asleep and it woke me. Something's +happened. You must deal with it!" + +In a second we were outside the tent with our rifles. + +"My God!" I heard the professor exclaim, as if he had first made the +discovery. "It _is_ Rushton!" + +I saw the guides helping--dragging--a man out of a canoe. A brief space +of deep silence followed in which I heard only the waves from the canoe +washing up on the sand; and then, immediately after, came the voice of +a man talking with amazing rapidity and with odd gaps between his words. +It was Rushton telling his story, and the tones of his voice, now +whispering, now almost shouting, mixed with sobs and solemn oaths and +frequent appeals to the Deity, somehow or other struck the false note at +the very start, and before any of us guessed or knew anything at all. +Something moved secretly between his words, a shadow veiling the stars, +destroying the peace of our little camp, and touching us all personally +with an undefinable sense of horror and distrust. + +I can see that group to this day, with all the detail of a good +photograph: standing half-way between the firelight and the darkness, a +slight mist rising from the lake, the frosty stars, and our men, in +silence that was all sympathy, dragging Rushton across the rocks towards +the camp fire. Their moccasins crunched on the sand and slipped several +times on the stones beneath the weight of the limp, exhausted body, and +I can still see every inch of the pared cedar branch he had used for a +paddle on that lonely and dreadful journey. + +But what struck me most, as it struck us all, was the limp exhaustion of +his body compared to the strength of his utterance and the tearing rush +of his words. A vigorous driving-power was there at work, forcing out +the tale, red-hot and throbbing, full of discrepancies and the strangest +contradictions; and the nature of this driving-power I first began to +appreciate when they had lifted him into the circle of firelight and I +saw his face, grey under the tan, terror in the eyes, tears too, hair +and beard awry, and listened to the wild stream of words pouring forth +without ceasing. + +I think we all understood then, but it was only after many years that +anyone dared to confess what he thought. + +There was Matt Morris, my guide; Silver Fizz, whose real name was +unknown, and who bore the title of his favourite drink; and huge Hank +Milligan--all ears and kind intention; and there was Rushton, pouring +out his ready-made tale, with ever-shifting eyes, turning from face to +face, seeking confirmation of details none had witnessed but +himself--and _one other_. + +Silver Fizz was the first to recover from the shock of the thing, and to +realise, with the natural sense of chivalry common to most genuine +back-woodsmen, that the man was at a terrible disadvantage. At any rate, +he was the first to start putting the matter to rights. + +"Never mind telling it just now," he said in a gruff voice, but with +real gentleness; "get a bite t'eat first and then let her go +afterwards. Better have a horn of whisky too. It ain't all packed yet, I +guess." + +"Couldn't eat or drink a thing," cried the other. "Good Lord, don't you +see, man, I want to _talk_ to someone first? I want to get it out of me +to someone who can answer--answer. I've had nothing but trees to talk +with for three days, and I can't carry it alone any longer. Those +cursed, silent trees--I've told it 'em a thousand times. Now, just see +here, it was this way. When we started out from camp--" + +He looked fearfully about him, and we realised it was useless to stop +him. The story was bound to come, and come it did. + +Now, the story itself was nothing out of the way; such tales are told by +the dozen round any camp fire where men who have knocked about in the +woods are in the circle. It was the way he told it that made our flesh +creep. He was near the truth all along, but he was skimming it, and the +skimming took off the cream that might have saved his soul. + +Of course, he smothered it in words--odd words, too--melodramatic, +poetic, out-of-the-way words that lie just on the edge of frenzy. Of +course, too, he kept asking us each in turn, scanning our faces with +those restless, frightened eyes of his, "What would _you_ have done?" +"What else could I do?" and "Was that _my_ fault?" But that was nothing, +for he was no milk-and-water fellow who dealt in hints and suggestions; +he told his story boldly, forcing his conclusions upon us as if we had +been so many wax cylinders of a phonograph that would repeat accurately +what had been told us, and these questions I have mentioned he used to +emphasise any special point that he seemed to think required such +emphasis. + +The fact was, however, the picture of what had actually happened was so +vivid still in his own mind that it reached ours by a process of +telepathy which he could not control or prevent. All through his +true-false words this picture stood forth in fearful detail against the +shadows behind him. He could not veil, much less obliterate, it. We +knew; and, I always thought, _he knew that we knew_. + +The story itself, as I have said, was sufficiently ordinary. Jake and +himself, in a nine-foot canoe, had upset in the middle of a lake, and +had held hands across the upturned craft for several hours, eventually +cutting holes in her ribs to stick their arms through and grasp hands +lest the numbness of the cold water should overcome them. They were +miles from shore, and the wind was drifting them down upon a little +island. But when they got within a few hundred yards of the island, +they realised to their horror that they would after all drift past it. + +It was then the quarrel began. Jake was for leaving the canoe and +swimming. Rushton believed in waiting till they actually had passed the +island and were sheltered from the wind. Then they could make the island +easily by swimming, canoe and all. But Jake refused to give in, and +after a short struggle--Rushton admitted there was a struggle--got free +from the canoe--and disappeared _without a single cry_. + +Rushton held on and proved the correctness of his theory, and finally +made the island, canoe and all, after being in the water over five +hours. He described to us how he crawled up on to the shore, and fainted +at once, with his feet lying half in the water; how lost and terrified +he felt upon regaining consciousness in the dark; how the canoe had +drifted away and his extraordinary luck in finding it caught again at +the end of the island by a projecting cedar branch. He told us that the +little axe--another bit of real luck--had caught in the thwart when the +canoe turned over, and how the little bottle in his pocket holding the +emergency matches was whole and dry. He made a blazing fire and searched +the island from end to end, calling upon Jake in the darkness, but +getting no answer; till, finally, so many half-drowned men seemed to +come crawling out of the water on to the rocks, and vanish among the +shadows when he came up with them, that he lost his nerve completely and +returned to lie down by the fire till the daylight came. + +He then cut a bough to replace the lost paddles, and after one more +useless search for his lost companion, he got into the canoe, fearing +every moment he would upset again, and crossed over to the mainland. He +knew roughly the position of our camping place, and after paddling day +and night, and making many weary portages, without food or covering, he +reached us two days later. + +This, more or less, was the story, and we, knowing whereof he spoke, +knew that every word was literally true, and at the same time went to +the building up of a hideous and prodigious lie. + +Once the recital was over, he collapsed, and Silver Fizz, after a +general expression of sympathy from the rest of us, came again to the +rescue. + +"But now, Mister, you jest _got_ to eat and drink whether you've a mind +to, or no." + +And Matt Morris, cook that night, soon had the fried trout and bacon, +and the wheat cakes and hot coffee passing round a rather silent and +oppressed circle. So we ate round the fire, ravenously, as we had eaten +every night for the past six weeks, but with this difference: that +there was one among us who was more than ravenous--and he gorged. + +In spite of all our devices he somehow kept himself the centre of +observation. When his tin mug was empty, Morris instantly passed the +tea-pail; when he began to mop up the bacon grease with the dough on his +fork, Hank reached out for the frying pan; and the can of steaming +boiled potatoes was always by his side. And there was another difference +as well: he was sick, terribly sick before the meal was over, and this +sudden nausea after food was more eloquent than words of what the man +had passed through on his dreadful, foodless, ghost-haunted journey of +forty miles to our camp. In the darkness he thought he would go crazy, +he said. There were voices in the trees, and figures were always lifting +themselves out of the water, or from behind boulders, to look at him and +make awful signs. Jake constantly peered at him through the underbrush, +and everywhere the shadows were moving, with eyes, footsteps, and +following shapes. + +We tried hard to talk of other things, but it was no use, for he was +bursting with the rehearsal of his story and refused to allow himself +the chances we were so willing and anxious to grant him. After a good +night's rest he might have had more self-control and better judgment, +and would probably have acted differently. But, as it was, we found it +impossible to help him. + +Once the pipes were lit, and the dishes cleared away, it was useless to +pretend any longer. The sparks from the burning logs zigzagged upwards +into a sky brilliant with stars. It was all wonderfully still and +peaceful, and the forest odours floated to us on the sharp autumn air. +The cedar fire smelt sweet and we could just hear the gentle wash of +tiny waves along the shore. All was calm, beautiful, and remote from the +world of men and passion. It was, indeed, a night to touch the soul, and +yet, I think, none of us heeded these things. A bull-moose might almost +have thrust his great head over our shoulders and have escaped +unnoticed. The death of Jake the Swede, with its sinister setting, was +the real presence that held the centre of the stage and compelled +attention. + +"You won't p'raps care to come along, Mister," said Morris, by way of a +beginning; "but I guess I'll go with one of the boys here and have a +hunt for it." + +"Sure," said Hank. "Jake an' I done some biggish trips together in the +old days, and I'll do that much for'm." + +"It's deep water, they tell me, round them islands," added Silver Fizz; +"but we'll find it, sure pop,--if it's thar." + +They all spoke of the body as "it." + +There was a minute or two of heavy silence, and then Rushton again burst +out with his story in almost the identical words he had used before. It +was almost as if he had learned it by heart. He wholly failed to +appreciate the efforts of the others to let him off. + +Silver Fizz rushed in, hoping to stop him, Morris and Hank closely +following his lead. + +"I once knew another travellin' partner of his," he began quickly; "used +to live down Moosejaw Rapids way--" + +"Is that so?" said Hank. + +"Kind o' useful sort er feller," chimed in Morris. + +All the idea the men had was to stop the tongue wagging before the +discrepancies became so glaring that we should be forced to take notice +of them, and ask questions. But, just as well try to stop an angry +bull-moose on the run, or prevent Beaver Creek freezing in mid-winter by +throwing in pebbles near the shore. Out it came! And, though the +discrepancy this time was insignificant, it somehow brought us all in a +second face to face with the inevitable and dreaded climax. + +"And so I tramped all over that little bit of an island, hoping he +might somehow have gotten in without my knowing it, and always thinking +I _heard that awful last cry of his_ in the darkness--and then the night +dropped down impenetrably, like a damn thick blanket out of the sky, +and--" + +All eyes fell away from his face. Hank poked up the logs with his boot, +and Morris seized an ember in his bare fingers to light his pipe, +although it was already emitting clouds of smoke. But the professor +caught the ball flying. + +"I thought you said he sank without a cry," he remarked quietly, looking +straight up into the frightened face opposite, and then riddling +mercilessly the confused explanation that followed. + +The cumulative effect of all these forces, hitherto so rigorously +repressed, now made itself felt, and the circle spontaneously broke up, +everybody moving at once by a common instinct. The professor's wife left +the party abruptly, with excuses about an early start next morning. She +first shook hands with Rushton, mumbling something about his comfort in +the night. + +The question of his comfort, however, devolved by force of circumstances +upon myself, and he shared my tent. Just before wrapping up in my double +blankets--for the night was bitterly cold--he turned and began to +explain that he had a habit of talking in his sleep and hoped I would +wake him if he disturbed me by doing so. + +Well, he did talk in his sleep--and it disturbed me very much indeed. +The anger and violence of his words remain with me to this day, and it +was clear in a minute that he was living over again some portion of the +scene upon the lake. I listened, horror-struck, for a moment or two, and +then understood that I was face to face with one of two alternatives: I +must continue an unwilling eavesdropper, or I must waken him. The former +was impossible for me, yet I shrank from the latter with the greatest +repugnance; and in my dilemma I saw the only way out of the difficulty +and at once accepted it. + +Cold though it was, I crawled stealthily out of my warm sleeping-bag and +left the tent, intending to keep the old fire alight under the stars and +spend the remaining hours till daylight in the open. + +As soon as I was out I noticed at once another figure moving silently +along the shore. It was Hank Milligan, and it was plain enough what he +was doing: he was examining the holes that had been cut in the upper +ribs of the canoe. He looked half ashamed when I came up with him, and +mumbled something about not being able to sleep for the cold. But, +there, standing together beside the over-turned canoe, we both saw that +the holes were far too small for a man's hand and arm and could not +possibly have been cut by two men hanging on for their lives in deep +water. Those holes had been made afterwards. + +Hank said nothing to me and I said nothing to Hank, and presently he +moved off to collect logs for the fire, which needed replenishing, for +it was a piercingly cold night and there were many degrees of frost. + +Three days later Hank and Silver Fizz followed with stumbling footsteps +the old Indian trail that leads from Beaver Creek to the southwards. A +hammock was slung between them, and it weighed heavily. Yet neither of +the men complained; and, indeed, speech between them was almost nothing. +Their thoughts, however, were exceedingly busy, and the terrible secret +of the woods which formed their burden weighed far more heavily than the +uncouth, shifting mass that lay in the swinging hammock and tugged so +severely at their shoulders. + +They had found "it" in four feet of water not more than a couple of +yards from the lee shore of the island. And in the back of the head was +a long, terrible wound which no man could possibly have inflicted upon +himself. + + + +_Printed by MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, Edinburgh._ + + + + + +John Silence + +by Algernon Blackwood + + +"Not since the days of Poe have we read anything in his peculiar genre +fit to be compared with this remarkable book. . . . He brings to his work +an extraordinary knowledge of strange and unusual forms of +spiritualistic phenomena, and steeps his pages in an atmosphere of real +terror and expectancy."--_Observer_. + +"When one says that Mr. Blackwood's work approaches genius, the phrase +is used in no light connection. This very remarkable book is a +considerable and lasting addition to the literature of our +time."--_Morning Post_. + +"These are the most haunting and original ghost stories since 'Uncle +Silas' appeared."--_Morning Leader_. + +"In the field which he has chosen, Mr. Blackwood stands without rival +among contemporary writers."--_Manchester Guardian_. + +"As original, as powerful, and as artistically written as that little +masterpiece of Lytton's, 'The Haunters and the Haunted.' He bears +favourable comparison with Le Fanu. . . . A volume which has an +extraordinary power of fascination."--_Birmingham Daily Post_. + +"The story is absolutely arresting in its imaginative power."--_Daily +Telegraph_. + + +UNIFORM EDITION + +3s. 6d. net + + +EVELEIGH NASH COMPANY LIMITED + +36 King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. + + + + +The Lost Valley + +by Algernon Blackwood + + +"In one of the stories, 'The Wendigo,' the author gives us, perhaps, one +of the most successful excursions into the grimly weird; quietly but +surely he makes his reader come under the influence of the eerie, until +the pages are half-reluctantly turned under the spell of a fearful +fascination. Mr. Blackwood writes like a real artist."--_Daily +Telegraph_. + +"The book of a remarkably gifted writer."--_Daily News_. + +"The stories are unforgettable. Through them all, too, runs the charm of +an accomplished style. . . . Mr. Blackwood has indeed done well."--_Pall +Mall Gazette_. + +"Whether concerned with beauty or terror, fact or fancy, there is an +individuality in Mr. Blackwood's work which cannot be ignored, and there +is also power which proceeds, we think, not so much from the fertility +of a comprehensive imagination, but from the amazing conviction of the +author's power of expression, and a literary quality rarely met with in +contemporary stories of mystery and imagination."--_Globe_. + +"In his method of touching the well-springs of fear, of pity, and of +horror, Mr. Blackwood often exhibits powers which can only properly be +called masterly. In its way his work bids fair to become classical . . . +an art superior to that of Bulwer-Lytton, at least as fine as Le Fanu's, +and hardly, if at all, inferior to that exhibited by the supreme living +masters of the short story, Mr. Kipling and Mr. James."--_Birmingham +Daily Post_. + + +UNIFORM EDITION + +3s. 6d. net + + +EVELEIGH NASH COMPANY LIMITED + +36 King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. + + + + +The Listener + +by Algernon Blackwood + + +"These stories are literature . . . good stories, well imagined, carefully +modelled, properly proportioned. . . . 'The Insanity of Jones' is perhaps +the most remarkable _tour de force_ in this remarkable book. . . . If Mr. +Blackwood keeps at his present level one or two very celebrated authors +will have to look to their laurels."--_Daily Chronicle_. + +"Even Edgar Allan Poe never suggested more skilfully an atmosphere of +horror than does Mr. Blackwood in his titular story, or again in his +description of 'The Willows.'"--F.G. BETTANY in the _Sunday Times_. + +"Saying that Mr. Blackwood's latest stories reveal strong dramatic +instinct is a dull way of expressing the series of thrills which their +perusal causes. Without doubt Mr. Blackwood is designed to fill a high +place as an author who is able to arouse the attention of his reader on +the first page, and to hold it until the last has been turned. . . . +A distinctive genius."--_Pall Mall Gazette_. + +"Full of imagination, and well told."--_Daily News_. + +"Mr. Blackwood is clearly a master of the art of the genuine sensation +story."--_Liverpool Courier_. + + +UNIFORM EDITION + +3s. 6d. net + + +EVELEIGH NASH COMPANY LIMITED + +36 King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Empty House And Other Ghost Stories +by Algernon Blackwood + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14471 *** |