arms to touch her, for the moment of dread had passed,
and he wanted to kiss her.

"No!" she cried sharply. "Don't touch me, child; don't touch me!"

But he was already close beside her, and in another second would have
had his arms round her, when his foot stumbled over something, and he
fell forward into her with his full weight. Instead of saving himself
against her body, however, he fell _clean through her_! Nothing stopped
him; there was no resistance; he met nothing more solid than air, and
fell full length upon the floor. Before he could recover from his
surprise and pick himself up, something touched him on the lips, and he
heard a voice that was faint as a whisper saying, "Good-bye, darling
child, and bless you." The next moment he was on his feet again and the
room was empty. The governess had gone through the trap-door, and he was
alone.

It was all very strange and confusing, and he could not understand what
was happening to her. He never for a moment realised that the change was
in himself, and that as the tie between himself and his body became
closer, the things of this other world he had been living in for so long
must fade gradually away into shadows and emptiness.

But Jimbo was a brave boy; there was nothing of the coward in him,
though his sensitive temperament made him sometimes hesitate where an
ordinary child with less imagination would have acted promptly. The
desire to cry he thrust down and repressed, fighting his depression by
the thought that within a few hours the voice might sound that should
call him to the excitement of the last flight--and freedom.

The rest of the daylight slipped away very quickly, and the room was
full of shadows almost before he knew it. Then came the darkness.
Outside, the wind rose and fell fitfully, booming in the chimney with
hollow music, and sighing round the walls of the house. A few stars
peeped between the branches of the elms, but masses of cloud hid most of
the sky, and the air felt heavy with coming rain.

He lay down on the bed and waited. At the least sound he started,
thinking it might be the call from the governess. But the few sounds he
did hear always resolved themselves into the moaning of the wind, and no
voice came. With his eyes on the open window, trying to pierce the gloom
and find the stars, he lay motionless for hours, while the night wore on
and the shadows deepened.

And during those long hours of darkness and silence he was consci