ike a dirge.

Carse did not sleep at all that Sunday night, but paced up and down
in his study while a fierce, alarming expression hardened on his
features. Nor could I sleep, for his continued pacing tore my nerves
to shreds, and I spent the night alternately in my own room and at the
partly open doorway of the library, where I was able to watch him in
secrecy. Several times I saw him bend over a small book and study it
with the intent regard of a disciple, and each time that he referred
to a certain page he pounded his fist on the desk and cried to
himself: "God forbid! God forbid!"

I should have realized what he meant. I should have known and been
prepared, but how blind my friendship made me to the horrific
implication of those repeated words!

Monday came and went in a slow drizzle of rain which only added to the
somber quiet of the city, and as the evening approached and wore on I
felt myself caught in the irresistible tide of fearful anticipation
which warned of the sixth appearance of the Head-hunter. The streets
were deserted throughout the day, and with but few exceptions the only
pedestrians were police officers, who now traveled in pairs or squads.
The evening papers were brutally frank in predicting that before dawn
a sixth headless corpse would be discovered, and this expectation was
shared by all.

Carse was at home all day and refused to answer the telephone or to
allow me to answer it for him. He ate sparingly, with his same
preoccupation, and, contrary to my expectations, he appeared to have
lapsed into a state akin to normality, like a man who contemplates a
preordained and inexorable occurrence.

At six o'clock he came to me, ghastly haggard and thin, and again
asked me to leave his house, but I refused this zero-hour request. He
shrugged and went back to his study. I watched him for a while and saw
that he was studying that queer little book which so deeply affected
him, and I again heard him utter those despairing words: "God forbid!
God forbid!"

~ ~ ~

I went to bed at a little after ten and tried to sleep, but the
city-wide excitement seeped into my room and kept me tossing from the
thrusts of nightmares. At midnight Carse came up and stopped just
outside my door, obviously listening to determine whether I was
asleep. The silence was uncanny for a moment; then I heard a sharp
metallic clicking and he went on to his room. After he had closed his
door, I swept my sheet asid