Three steps back were sufficient--three steps taken suddenly in that
profound darkness were enough, in the excitement of the moment, to make
Guest completely lose what a nautical man would call "his bearings;"
and, startled, as well as puzzled, he waited, in utter ignorance of his
position in the room, for what was to come next.
Time and again he had been uneasy, even startled, by his friend's
actions, feeling that there was a certain amount of mental aberration.
He had felt, too, that it was quite possible that in some sudden
paroxysm, when galled by his dictation, Stratton might strike at him,
but until now he had never known absolute fear.
For, manly and reckless as he was as a rule, he could not conceal from
himself that Stratton was, after all, dangerous. That turning out of
the light had been intentional; there must have been an object in view,
and, in his tremor of nerve, Guest could think of no other aim than that
of making a sudden attack upon one who had become irksome to him.
They were quite alone in that solitary place. If he called for help, no
one would hear, and he might be struck down and killed. Stratton, in
his madness, might find some means of hiding his body, and--what then?
Edie--poor little Edie, with her bright ways and merry, teasing smiles?
He would never see her again; and she, too, poor little one, would be
heart-broken, till some luckier fellow came along to make her happy.
"No, I'll be hanged if he shall," thought Guest, as a culmination to the
rapid rush of thought that flashed through his brain. "Poor old
Stratton is really as mad as a hatter; but, even if he has such
thoughts, I've as good a chance as he has in the dark, and I'll die
hard. Bah! who's going to die? Where's the window, or the door? Here,
this is a nice game, Mal," he said aloud, quite firmly. "Where are your
matches?"
But, as he spoke, he made a couple of rapid steps silently, to his
right, with outstretched hands, so as to conceal his position from
Stratton in the event of the latter meditating an attack--an event which
Guest would not now allow.
There was no reply, and Guest stood listening for a few moments before
speaking again.
"Do you hear?" he said. "You shouldn't have been in such a hurry. Open
the door, or I shall be upsetting some of your treasures."
Half angry with himself for his cowardice, as he called it, he repeated
his monologue and listened; but he could only hear the throbbings of his
own heart.
"Well, of all the ways of getting rid of an unwelcome guest--no joke
meant, old man--this is about the shadiest. Here," he cried, more
excitedly now, in spite of his efforts to be calm, "why don't you
speak?"
He did not step aside now, but stood firm, with his fists clenched,
ready to strike out with all his might in case of attack, though even
then he was fighting hard to force down the rising dread, and declaring
to himself that he was a mere child to be frightened at being in the
dark.
But he knew that he had good cause. Utter darkness is a horror of
itself when the confusion of being helpless and in total ignorance of
one's position is superadded. Nature plays strange pranks then with
one's mental faculties, even as she does with a traveller in some dense
fog, or the unfortunate who finds himself "bushed," or lost in the
primeval forest, far from help and with the balance of his mind upset.
He learns at such a time that his boasted strength of nerve is very
small indeed, and that the bravest and strongest man may succumb to a
dread that makes him as timid as a child.
Small as was the space in which he stood, and easy as it would have
been, after a little calm reflection, to find door or window, Guest felt
that he was rapidly losing his balance; for he dare not stir, face to
face as he was with the dread that Stratton really was mad, and that in
his cunning he had seized this opportunity for ridding himself of one
who must seem to him like a keeper always on the watch to thwart him.
He remained there silent, the cold sweat breaking out all over his face,
and his hearing strained to catch the sound of the slightest movement,
or even the heavy breathing of the man waiting for an opportunity to
strike him down.
For it was in vain to try and combat this feeling. He could find no
other explanation in his confused mental state. That must be Stratton's
intention, and the only thing to do was to be on the alert and master
him when the time for the great struggle came.
There were moments, as Guest stood there breathing as softly as he
could, when he felt that this horrible suspense must have been going on
for hours; and, as he looked round, the blackness seemed to be full of
strange, gliding points of light, which he was ready to think must be
Stratton's eyes, till common-sense told him that it was all fancy.
Then, too, he felt certain that he could hear rapid movements and his
enemy approaching him, but the sounds were made by his own pulses;
otherwise all was still as death. And at the mental suggestion of death
his horror grew more terrible than he could bear. He grew faint and
giddy, and made a snatch in the air as if to save himself.
The sensation passed off as quickly as it came, but in those brief
moments Guest felt how narrow was the division between sanity and its
reverse, and in a dread greater now than that of an attack by Stratton,
he set his teeth, drew himself up, and forcing himself to grasp the fact
that all this was only the result of a minute or two in the darkness, he
craned forward his neck in the direction of where he believed Stratton
to be, and listened.
Not a breath; not a sound.
There was a clock on the mantelpiece, and he tried to hear its calm,
gentle tick, but gave that up on the instant, feeling sure that it must
have been neglected and left unwound, and nerving himself now, he spoke
out sharply:
"Look here, Mal, old fellow, don't play the fool. Either open the door,
or strike a light, before I smash something valuable."
There was no reply, but the effort he had made over himself had somewhat
restored his balance, and he felt ready to laugh at his childish fears.
"Has he gone, and left me locked in?" he thought, after striving in vain
to hear a sound.
Improbable; for he had not heard the door open or close, and he would
have seen the dim light from the staircase.
No, not if Stratton had softly passed through the inner door and closed
it after him before opening the outer.
"Here, I must act," he said to himself, mentally strung once more. "He
couldn't have played me such a fool's prank as that. Now, where am I?
The writing table should be straight out there."
He stretched forth his hand cautiously, and touched something which
moved. It was a picture in the middle of a panel, hanging by a fine
wire from the rod, and Guest faced round sharply with a touch of his old
dread, for he knew now that he had been for long enough standing in a
position that would give his enemy--if enemy Stratton was--an
opportunity for striking him down from behind.
With the idea growing upon him that his alarm had all been vain, and
that Stratton must have gone straight out the moment he had turned down
the lamp--either in his absent state forgetting his presence, or
imagining that he had gone on out--Guest felt now a strange kind of
irritability against himself, and, with the dread completely gone, he
began to move cautiously, and pausing step by step, till his
outstretched hands came in contact with a bronze ornament, which fell
into the fender with a loud clang.
Guest started round once more, knowing exactly where he stood, and
facing Stratton, who seemed to have sprung out of his seat.
"Who's there?" he cried fiercely.
"Who's there?" retorted Guest. "Why, what's come to you, man? Where
are your lights? Bah!" he added to himself, "have I lost my head, too?"
As he spoke he drew a little silver case from his vest pocket, and
struck a wax match, whose bright light showed his friend sunk back in
the chair by the writing table, gazing wildly in his face.
A glance showed Guest a candle in a little holder on the mantelpiece,
and applying the match, in another moment the black horror had given
place to his friend's room, with Stratton looking utterly prostrate, and
unworthy of a moment's dread.
Guest's words partook of his feeling of annoyance with himself at having
given his imagination so much play.
"Here, what's come to you, man?" he cried, seizing Stratton roughly by
the shoulder.
"Come to me? I--I--don't know."
"Have you been sitting there ever since you put out the light?"
"Yes--I think so."
"But you heard me speak to you?"
"No; I think not. What did you say?"
"He's trembling like a leaf," thought Guest. "Worse than I was."
Then aloud:
"I say, you had better have a glass of grog, and then go to bed. I'll
stop with you if you like."
"Here? No, no; come along. It must be getting late."
He made for the door and opened it, signed to Guest to come, and stood
waiting.
"All right; but don't leave that candle burning, man. You seem
determined to burn down this place."
Stratton uttered a curious little laugh, and hastily crossed the room to
the mantelpiece, while Guest stood holding the door open, so as to admit
a little light.
The next minute they were on the landing, and Stratton, with trembling
fingers, carefully locked the door.
"Now," said Guest, "about poor old Brettison? What do you say? Shall
we give notice to the police?"
"No, no," cried Stratton angrily. "It is absurd! He will come back
some day. See me home, please, old fellow. My head--all confused and
strange. I want to get back as soon as I can."
Guest took his arm to the entrance of the inn, called a cab, and did not
leave him till he was safe in his rooms at Sarum Street, after which the
young barrister returned to his own chambers to think over the events of
the evening in company with a pipe.
"Takes all the conceit out of a fellow," he mused, "to find what a lot
of his old childish dread remains when he has grown up. Why, I felt
then--Ugh! I'm ashamed to think of it all. Poor old Stratton! he
doesn't know what he's about half his time. I believe he has got what
the doctors call softening of the brain. Strikes me, after to-night's
work," he added thoughtfully, "that I must have got it, too."
He refilled his pipe and went on thinking.
"How he started, and how strange he seemed when I talked about the
possibility of the poor old fellow lying there dead. Only a fancy of
mine. How does the old saying go: `Fancy goes a great way'? There,
I've had enough fancy for one night."