But what seemed to trouble him
most, was that she had not seemed to see him at all. He repeated this
so often, that in the end I told him, in an absurd sort of way, that he
ought to be very glad she had not. What did it all mean? was the
question; somehow I was not so frightened, as utterly bewildered. I had
seen less then, than since; but what I had seen, had made me feel
adrift from my anchorage of Reason. "What did it mean? He had seen a Woman, searching for something. _I_ had
not seen this Woman. _I_ had seen a Child, running away, and hiding from
Something or Someone. _He_ had not seen the Child, or the other
things--only the Woman. And _I_ had not seen her. What did it all mean? "I had said nothing to the landlord about the Child. I had been too
bewildered, and I realized that it would be futile to attempt an
explanation. He was already stupid with the thing he had seen; and not
the kind of man to understand. All this went through my mind as we stood
there, shining the lanterns to and fro. All the time, intermingled with a
streak of practical reasoning, I was questioning myself, what did it all
mean? What was the Woman searching for; what was the Child running from? "Suddenly, as I stood there, bewildered and nervous, making random
answers to the landlord, a door below was violently slammed, and directly
I caught the horrible reek of which I have told you. "'There!' I said to the landlord, and caught his arm, in my turn. 'The
Smell! Do _you_ smell it?' "He looked at me so stupidly that in a sort of nervous anger, I shook
him. "'Yes,' he said, in a queer voice, trying to shine the light from his
shaking lantern at the stair head. "'Come on!' I said, and picked up my bayonet; and he came, carrying his
gun awkwardly. I think he came, more because he was afraid to be left
alone, than because he had any pluck left, poor beggar. I never sneer at
that kind of funk, at least very seldom; for when it takes hold of you,
it makes rags of your courage. "I led the way downstairs, shining my light into the lower passage, and
afterward at the doors to see whether they were shut; for I had closed
and latched them, placing a corner of a mat against each door, so I
should know which had been opened. "I saw at once that none of the doors had been opened; then I threw the
beam of my light down alongside the stairway, in order to see the mat I
had placed against the door at the top of the cellar stairs. I got a
horrid thrill; for the mat was flat! I paused a couple of seconds,
shining my light to and fro in the passage, and holding fast to my
courage, I went down the stairs. "As I came to the bottom step, I saw patches of wet all up and down the
passage. I shone my lantern on them. It was the imprint of a wet foot
on the oilcloth of the passage; not an ordinary footprint, but a queer,
soft, flabby, spreading imprint, that gave me a feeling of
extraordinary horror. "Backward and forward I flashed the light over the impossible marks and
saw them everywhere. Suddenly I noticed that they led to each of the
closed doors. I felt something touch my back, and glanced 'round
swiftly, to find the landlord had come close to me, almost pressing
against me, in his fear. "'It's all right,' I said, but in a rather breathless whisper, meaning to
put a little courage into him; for I could feel that he was shaking
through all his body. Even then as I tried to get him steadied enough to
be of some use, his gun went off with a tremendous bang. He jumped, and
yelled with sheer terror; and I swore because of the shock. "'Give it to me, for God's sake!' I said, and slipped the gun from his
hand; and in the same instant there was a sound of running steps up the
garden path, and immediately the flash of a bull's-eye lantern upon the
fan light over the front door. Then the door was tried, and directly
afterward there came a thunderous knocking, which told me a policeman had
heard the shot. "I went to the door, and opened it. Fortunately the constable knew me,
and when I had beckoned him in, I was able to explain matters in a
very short time. While doing this, Inspector Johnstone came up the
path, having missed the officer, and seeing lights and the open door. I told him as briefly as possible what had occurred, and did not
mention the Child or the Woman; for it would have seem too fantastic
for him to notice. I showed him the queer, wet footprints and how they
went toward the closed doors. I explained quickly about the mats, and
how that the one against the cellar door was flat, which showed the
door had been opened. "The inspector nodded, and told the constable to guard the door at the
top of the cellar stairs. He then asked the hall lamp to be lit, after
which he took the policeman's lantern, and led the way into the front
room. He paused with the door wide open, and threw the light all 'round;
then he jumped into the room, and looked behind the door; there was no
one there; but all over the polished oak floor, between the scattered
rugs, went the marks of those horrible spreading footprints; and the room
permeated with the horrible odor. "The inspector searched the room carefully, and then went into the middle
room, using the same precautions. There was nothing in the middle room,
or in the kitchen or pantry; but everywhere went the wet footmarks
through all the rooms, showing plainly wherever there were woodwork or
oilcloth; and always there was the smell. "The inspector ceased from his search of the rooms, and spent a minute in
trying whether the mats would really fall flat when the doors were open,
or merely ruckle up in a way as to appear they had been untouched; but in
each case, the mats fell flat, and remained so. "'Extraordinary!' I heard Johnstone mutter to himself. And then he went
toward the cellar door. He had inquired at first whether there were
windows to the cellar, and when he learned there was no way out, except
by the door, he had left this part of the search to the last. "As Johnstone came up to the door, the policeman made a motion of salute,
and said something in a low voice; and something in the tone made me
flick my light across him. I saw then that the man was very white, and he
looked strange and bewildered. "'What?' said Johnstone impatiently. 'Speak up!' "'A woman come along 'ere, sir, and went through this 'ere door,' said
the constable, clearly, but with a curious monotonous intonation that is
sometimes heard from an unintelligent man. "'Speak up!' shouted the inspector. "'A woman come along and went through this 'ere door,' repeated the man,
monotonously. "The inspector caught the man by the shoulder, and deliberately sniffed
his breath. "'No!' he said. And then sarcastically:--'I hope you held the door open
politely for the lady.' "'The door weren't opened, sir,' said the man, simply. "'Are you mad--' began Johnstone. "'No,' broke in the landlord's voice from the back. Speaking steadily
enough. 'I saw the Woman upstairs.' It was evident that he had got back
his control again.