"You mustn't be expecting me, now, or thinking anything has
happened if I don't turn up to dinner. I have been getting stupid
lately, and I dare say a miniature walking tour will do me good. Perhaps
I may even spend the night in some little inn, if I find any place that
looks clean and comfortable." I heard this, and knew by my experience of Professor Gregg's manner that
it was no ordinary business or pleasure that impelled him. I knew not,
nor even remotely guessed, where he was bound, nor had I the vaguest
notion of his errand, but all the fear of the night before returned; and
as he stood, smiling, on the terrace, ready to set out, I implored him
to stay, and to forget all his dreams of the undiscovered continent. "No, no, Miss Lally," he replied, still smiling, "it's too late now. _Vestigia nulla retrorsum_, you know, is the device of all true
explorers, though I hope it won't be literally true in my ease. But,
indeed, you are wrong to alarm yourself so; I look upon my little
expedition as quite commonplace; no more exciting than a day with the
geological hammers. There is a risk, of course, but so there is on the
commonest excursion. I can afford to be jaunty; I am doing nothing so
hazardous as 'Arry does a hundred times over in the course of every Bank
Holiday. Well, then, you must look more cheerfully; and so good-by till
to-morrow at latest." He walked briskly up the road, and I saw him open the gate that marks
the entrance of the wood, and then he vanished in the gloom of the
trees. All the day passed heavily with a strange darkness in the air, and again
I felt as if imprisoned amidst the ancient woods, shut in an olden land
of mystery and dread, and as if all was long ago and forgotten by the
living outside. I hoped and dreaded, and when the dinner-hour came, I
waited expecting to hear the professor's step in the hall, and his voice
exulting at I knew not what triumph. I composed my face to welcome him
gladly, but the night descended dark, and he did not come. In the morning when the maid knocked at my door, I called out to her,
and asked if her master had returned; and when she replied that his
bedroom stood open and empty, I felt the cold clasp of despair. Still, I
fancied he might have discovered genial company, and would return for
luncheon, or perhaps in the afternoon, and I took the children for a
walk in the forest, and tried my best to play and laugh with them, and
to shut out the thoughts of mystery and veiled terror. Hour after hour I
waited, and my thoughts grew darker; again the night came and found me
watching, and at last, as I was making much ado to finish my dinner, I
heard steps outside and the sound of a man's voice. The maid came in and looked oddly at me. "Please, miss," she began, "Mr. Morgan the gardener wants to speak to
you for a minute, if you didn't mind." "Show him in, please," I answered, and I set my lips tight. The old man came slowly into the room, and the servant shut the door
behind him. "Sit down, Mr. Morgan," I said; "what is it that you want to say to me?" "Well, miss, Mr. Gregg he gave me something for you yesterday morning,
just before he went off; and he told me particular not to hand it up
before eight o'clock this evening exactly, if so be as he wasn't back
again home before, and if he should come home before I was just to
return it to him in his own hands. So, you see, as Mr. Gregg isn't here
yet, I suppose I'd better give you the parcel directly." He pulled out something from his pocket, and gave it to me, half rising. I took it silently, and seeing that Morgan seemed doubtful as to what he
was to do next, I thanked him and bade him good-night, and he went out. I was left alone in the room with the parcel in my hand,--a paper parcel
neatly sealed and directed to me, with the instructions Morgan had
quoted all written in the professor's large loose hand. I broke the
seals with a choking at my heart, and found an envelope inside,
addressed also, but open, and I took the letter out. *       *       *       *       *

"MY DEAR MISS LALLY," it began, "To quote the old logic manual, the case
of your reading this note is a case of my having made a blunder of some
sort, and, I am afraid, a blunder that turns these lines into a
farewell. It is practically certain that neither you nor anyone else
will ever see me again. I have made my will with provision for this
eventuality, and I hope you will consent to accept the small remembrance
addressed to you, and my sincere thanks for the way in which you joined
your fortunes to mine. The fate which has come upon me is desperate and
terrible beyond the remotest dreams of man; but this fate you have a
right to know--if you please. If you look in the left-hand drawer of my
dressing-table, you will find the key of the escritoire, properly
labelled. In the well of the escritoire is a large envelope sealed and
addressed to your name. I advise you to throw it forthwith into the
fire; you will sleep better of nights if you do so. But if you must know
the history of what has happened, it is all written down for you to
read." *       *       *       *       *

The signature was firmly written below, and again I turned the page and
read out the words one by one, aghast and white to the lips, my hands
cold as ice, and sickness choking me. The dead silence of the room, and
the thought of the dark woods and hills closing me in on every side,
oppressed me, helpless and without capacity, and not knowing where to
turn for counsel. At last I resolved that though knowledge should haunt
my whole life and all the days to come, I must know the meaning of the
strange terrors that had so long tormented me, rising gray, dim, and
awful, like the shadows in the wood at dusk. I carefully carried out
Professor Gregg's directions, and not without reluctance broke the seal
of the envelope, and spread out his manuscript before me. That
manuscript I always carry with me, and I see that I cannot deny your
unspoken request to read it. This, then, was what I read that night,
sitting at the desk, with a shaded lamp beside me. The young lady who called herself Miss Lally then proceeded to recite:--

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Statement of William Gregg, F.R.S., etc._

It is many years since the first glimmer of the theory which is now
almost, if not quite, reduced to fact dawned first on my mind. A
somewhat extensive course of miscellaneous and obsolete reading had done
a good deal to prepare the way, and, later, when I became somewhat of a
specialist and immersed myself in the studies known as ethnological, I
was now and then startled by facts that would not square with orthodox
scientific opinion, and by discoveries that seemed to hint at something
still hidden for all our research.