e direction toward his apartment. She was panting
when she reached her door. She fumbled for the right key--front door,
office--and then she froze. There was a scratching sound in the
apartment.

She put her ear close to the door, listened. There was a rasping noise,
like somebody dragging a rake ... or like claws, great heavy claws,
moving over the hardwood floors!

Ellen backed away from the door. It was true, then. She retreated, inch
by inch, silently. Get away, leave before it catches you! She turned,
ready to make a dash for the elevator ... and faced the man from 410.

Down at the end of the hall, in front of his apartment, he was watching
her. The way he lingered outside the restaurant, the way he looked at
her. One of _them_ ... maybe underneath that homely, ordinary face, his
skin was green and clammy. Maybe there were long, sharp claws on his
feet.

She was breathing unevenly now. Trapped! The thing in the apartment, the
man in the hall. Her eyes darted to the elevator, then back, down the
hall, past the door marked 404 ... the door marked 404! She covered the
few yards in a mad dash, flung herself at the door, pounding wildly.

"Please, please!" she sobbed. "Mrs. Moffatt, open, please!"

The door opened at once. Mrs. Moffatt's round, wrinkled face beamed at
her.

"Come in, my dear, come in."

She almost fell over the landing. The door closed behind her.

She stumbled to the davenport, sank down, gasping. Two cats rubbed
against her legs, purring. Two cats?

She heard herself say stupidly, "Mrs. Moffatt, where's the other cat?"
and wondered why she said it.

Then she understood.

The old lady's face quivered, altered, melted into something ...
something green.

* * * * *

Outside in the hall, the man from 410 slowly returned to his apartment.
Pushing open the door, he thought, I'll never get the nerve to ask her
out.

Well, probably wasn't a chance, anyhow. What would a girl like her have
to do with a lousy cop like me?

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Know Thy Neighbor, by Elisabeth R. Lewis

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KNOW THY NEIGHBOR ***

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