He evidently had some method of
slipping in and out of the house, probably through one of the many French
windows, or possibly he had a key to one or two of the garden doors, and
when he was supposed to be away, he was really coming down on the quiet
and hiding somewhere in the neighborhood. "The incident of the kiss in the dark hall I put down to sheer nervous
imaginings on the part of Beaumont and Miss Hisgins, yet I must say that
the sound of the horse outside of the front door is a little difficult to
explain away. But I am still inclined to keep to my first idea on this
point, that there was nothing really unnatural about it. "The hoof sounds in the billiard room and down the passage were done by
Parsket from the floor below by bumping up against the paneled ceiling
with a block of wood tied to one of the window hooks. I proved this by an
examination which showed the dents in the woodwork. "The sounds of the horse galloping 'round the house were possibly made
also by Parsket, who must have had a horse tied up in the plantation
nearby, unless, indeed, he made the sounds himself, but I do not see how
he could have gone fast enough to produce the illusion. In any case, I
don't feel perfect certainty on this point. I failed to find any hoof
marks, as you remember. "The gobbling neighing in the park was a ventriloquial achievement on
the part of Parsket and the attack out there on Beaumont was also by
him, so that when I thought he was in his bedroom, he must have been
outside all the time and joined me after I ran out of the front door. This is almost probable. I mean that Parsket was the cause, for if it
had been something more serious he would certainly have given up his
foolishness, knowing that there was no longer any need for it. I cannot
imagine how he escaped being shot, both then and in the last mad action
of which I have just told you. He was enormously without fear of any
kind for himself as you can see. "The time when Parsket was with us, when we thought we heard the Horse
galloping 'round the house, we must have been deceived. No one was
very sure, except, of course, Parsket, who would naturally encourage
the belief. "The neighing in the cellar is where I consider there came the first
suspicion into Parsket's mind that there was something more at work than
his sham haunting. The neighing was done by him in the same way that he
did it in the park; but when I remember how ghastly he looked I feel sure
that the sounds must have had some infernal quality added to them which
frightened the man himself. Yet, later, he would persuade himself that he
had been getting fanciful. Of course, I must not forget that the effect
upon Miss Hisgins must have made him feel pretty miserable. "Then, about the clergyman being called away, we found afterward that it
was a bogus errand, or, rather, call and it is apparent that Parsket was
at the bottom of this, so as to get a few more hours in which to achieve
his end and what that was, a very little imagination will show you; for
he had found that Beaumont would not be frightened away. I hate to think
this, but I'm bound to. Anyway, it is obvious that the man was
temporarily a bit off his normal balance. Love's a queer disease! "Then, there is no doubt at all but that Parsket left the cord to the
butler's bell hitched somewhere so as to give him an excuse to slip away
naturally to clear it. This also gave him the opportunity to remove one
of the passage lamps. Then he had only to smash the other and the passage
was in utter darkness for him to make the attempt on Beaumont. "In the same way, it was he who locked the door of the bedroom and took
the key (it was in his pocket). This prevented the Captain from bringing
a light and coming to the rescue. But Captain Hisgins broke down the door
with the heavy fender curb and it was his smashing the door that sounded
so confusing and frightening in the darkness of the passage. "The photograph of the monstrous hoof above Miss Hisgins in the cellar is
one of the things that I am less sure about. It might have been faked by
Parsket, whilst I was out of the room, and this would have been easy
enough, to anyone who knew how. But, you know, it does not look like a
fake. Yet, there is as much evidence of probability that it was faked, as
against; and the thing is too vague for an examination to help to a
definite decision so that I will express no opinion, one way or the
other. It is certainly a horrible photograph. "And now I come to that last, dreadful thing. There has been no further
manifestation of anything abnormal so that there is an extraordinary
uncertainty in my conclusions. If we had not heard those last sounds and
if Parsket had not shown that enormous sense of fear the whole of this
case could be explained in the way in which I have shown. And, in fact,
as you have seen, I am of the opinion that almost all of it can be
cleared up, but I see no way of going past the thing we heard at the last
and the fear that Parsket showed. "His death--no, that proves nothing. At the inquest it was described
somewhat untechnically as due to heart spasm. That is normal enough and
leaves us quite in the dark as to whether he died because he stood
between the girl and some incredible thing of monstrosity. "The look on Parsket's face and the thing he called out when he heard the
great hoof sounds coming down the passage seem to show that he had the
sudden realization of what before then may have been nothing more than a
horrible suspicion. And his fear and appreciation of some tremendous
danger approaching was probably more keenly real even than mine. And then
he did the one fine, great thing!" "And the cause?" I said. "What caused it?" Carnacki shook his head. "God knows," he answered, with a peculiar, sincere reverence. "If that
thing was what it seemed to be one might suggest an explanation which
would not offend one's reason, but which may be utterly wrong. Yet I have
thought, though it would take a long lecture on Thought Induction to get
you to appreciate my reasons, that Parsket had produced what I might term
a kind of 'induced haunting,' a kind of induced simulation of his mental
conceptions to his desperate thoughts and broodings. It is impossible to
make it clearer in a few words." "But the old story!" I said. "Why may not there have been something
in _that_?" "There may have been something in it," said Carnacki. "But I do not think
it had anything to do with this. I have not clearly thought out my
reasons, yet; but later I may be able to tell you why I think so." "And the marriage? And the cellar--was there anything found there?" asked Taylor. "Yes, the marriage was performed that day in spite of the tragedy,"
Carnacki told us. "It was the wisest thing to do considering the things
that I cannot explain. Yes, I had the floor of that big cellar up, for I
had a feeling I might find something there to give me some light. But
there was nothing.