ay, for you'll find that I'll be
better than my word."

The door slammed, and Smith went fuming up to his chamber, where he
locked the door upon the inside, and spent half the night in smoking
his old briar and brooding over the strange events of the evening.

Next morning Abercrombie Smith heard nothing of his neighbour, but
Harrington called upon him in the afternoon to say that Lee was almost
himself again. All day Smith stuck fast to his work, but in the
evening he determined to pay the visit to his friend Dr. Peterson upon
which he had started upon the night before. A good walk and a friendly
chat would be welcome to his jangled nerves.

Bellingham's door was shut as he passed, but glancing back when he was
some distance from the turret, he saw his neighbour's head at the
window outlined against the lamp-light, his face pressed apparently
against the glass as he gazed out into the darkness. It was a blessing
to be away from all contact with him, but if for a few hours, and Smith
stepped out briskly, and breathed the soft spring air into his lungs.
The half-moon lay in the west between two Gothic pinnacles, and threw
upon the silvered street a dark tracery from the stone-work above.
There was a brisk breeze, and light, fleecy clouds drifted swiftly
across the sky. Old's was on the very border of the town, and in five
minutes Smith found himself beyond the houses and between the hedges of
a May-scented Oxfordshire lane.

It was a lonely and little frequented road which led to his friend's
house. Early as it was, Smith did not meet a single soul upon his way.
He walked briskly along until he came to the avenue gate, which opened
into the long gravel drive leading up to Farlingford. In front of him
he could see the cosy red light of the windows glimmering through the
foliage. He stood with his hand upon the iron latch of the swinging
gate, and he glanced back at the road along which he had come.
Something was coming swiftly down it.

It moved in the shadow of the hedge, silently and furtively, a dark,
crouching figure, dimly visible against the black background. Even as
he gazed back at it, it had lessened its distance by twenty paces, and
was fast closing upon him. Out of the darkness he had a glimpse of a
scraggy neck, and of two eyes that will ever haunt him in his dreams.
He turned, and with a cry of terror he ran for his life up the avenue.
There were the red lights, the signals of safety, almost wit