d
left it I could not tell, but I hastened to open the gate, and as I
stepped forward I found myself upon an asphalt walk. At the same instant
there was the sound of quick steps upon the path, and some one rushed
past me. I called to him, but he made no reply, and I heard the gate
click and the footsteps hurrying away upon the sidewalk.

[Illustration: 06 A square of light suddenly opened in the night]

"Under other circumstances the young man's rudeness, and his
recklessness in dashing so hurriedly through the mist, would have struck
me as peculiar, but everything was so distorted by the fog that at the
moment I did not consider it. The door was still as he had left it,
partly open. I went up the path, and, after much fumbling, found the
knob of the door-bell and gave it a sharp pull. The bell answered me
from a great depth and distance, but no movement followed from inside
the house, and although I pulled the bell again and again I could hear
nothing save the dripping of the mist about me. I was anxious to be on
my way, but unless I knew where I was going there was little chance
of my making any speed, and I was determined that until I learned my
bearings I would not venture back into the fog. So I pushed the door
open and stepped into the house.

"I found myself in a long and narrow hall, upon which doors opened from
either side. At the end of the hall was a staircase with a balustrade
which ended in a sweeping curve. The balustrade was covered with heavy
Persian rugs, and the walls of the hall were also hung with them. The
door on my left was closed, but the one nearer me on the right was open,
and as I stepped opposite to it I saw that it was a sort of reception
or waiting-room, and that it was empty. The door below it was also open,
and with the idea that I would surely find some one there, I walked on
up the hall. I was in evening dress, and I felt I did not look like
a burglar, so I had no great fear that, should I encounter one of the
inmates of the house, he would shoot me on sight. The second door in the
hall opened into a dining-room. This was also empty. One person had
been dining at the table, but the cloth had not been cleared away, and
a nickering candle showed half-filled wineglasses and the ashes of
cigarettes. The greater part of the room was in complete darkness.

"By this time I had grown conscious of the fact that I was wandering
about in a strange house, and that, apparently, I was alone in it.