ight across the comparatively
large empty room, was so placed that what light there was came directly
in Trenholme's eyes. Afterwards he remembered this, and wondered whether
all that he thought he saw had, in fact, been clearly seen; but at the
moment he thought nothing of the inadequacy of light or of the glare in
his eyes; he only knew that there, in the far corner beside the empty
coffin, stood a white figure--very tall to his vision, very lank, with
white drapery that clothed it round the head like a cowl and spread upon
the floor around its feet. But all that was not what arrested his
attention and chilled his strong courage, it was the eyes of the figure,
which were clearly to be seen--large, frightened, fierce eyes, that met
his own with a courage and terror in them which seemed to quell his own
courage and impart terror to him. Above them he saw the form of a pallid
brow clearly moulded. He did not remember the rest of the face--perhaps
the white clothes wrapped it around. While the eyes struck him with awe,
he had a curious idea that the thing had been interrupted in arranging
its own winding sheet, and was waiting until he retired again to finish
its toilet. This was merely a grotesque side-current of thought. He was
held and awed by the surprise of the face, for those eyes seemed to him
to belong to no earthly part of the old man who, he had been told, lay
there dead. Drawn by death or exhaustion as the face around them looked,
the eyes themselves appeared unearthly in their large brightness.

He never knew whether his next action was urged more by fear, or by the
strong sense of justice that had first prompted him to call back the
carter as the proper person to deal with the contents of the coffin.
Whatever the motive, it acted quickly. He drew back; closed the door;
locked it on the side of his own room; and set out again to bring back
the man. This time he should hear and should return. Trenholme did not
spare his voice, and the wide lonely land resounded to his shout. And
this time he was not too proud to run, but went at full speed and
shouted too.

Saul undoubtedly saw and heard him, for he faced about and looked.
Perhaps something in the very way in which Trenholme ran suggested why
he ran. Instead of responding to the command to return, he himself
began to run away and madly to goad his oxen. There are those who
suppose oxen yoked to a cart cannot run, but on occasion they can plunge
into a wild hea