My sitting-room door opens close to the head of the stairs. If my
visitors back out politely they run a risk of stepping over the edge
and falling down-stairs on their backs. The one gas-jet that burns
all the time is a safeguard against this catastrophe, but, as it is an
uncertain and timid flicker, I speed the parting guest with caution.
Roger was backing out with his hat held to his breast when I gave a
warning cry. It went echoing up the stairway and mingled with the sound
of heavy descending feet. A head looked over the upper banister, a
dark masculine head, and seeing nothing more alarming than a lady and
gentleman in an open doorway, withdrew itself. The steps descended, a
hand glided down the rail, and a large overcoated shape came into view.
The frightened gas-jet shot up as if caught in a dereliction of duty,
and the man, advancing toward us, was clearly revealed.
I am a person of sudden attractions and antipathies and I had one,
sharp and poignant, as I looked at him. It was an antipathy, the
“I-do-not-like-you-Doctor-Fell” feeling in its most acute form. It was
evidently not reciprocal, for, as he drew near, he smiled, an easy
natural smile that disclosed singularly large white teeth. He gave me
an impression of size and breadth, his shoulders seemed to fill the
narrow passage and he carried them with an arrogant swagger. That and
the stare he fixed on us probably caused the “Doctor Fell” feeling.
The stare was bold and hard, a combination of inspection and curiosity.
He added a nod to his smile, passed us and went down the stairs. We
looked down on his wide descending shoulders and the top of his head,
with the hair thin in the middle.
“Who’s that bounder?” said Roger.
“I haven’t the least idea.”
“Didn’t he bow to you?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t make me know him. He must be some one living in
the house.”
Roger looked after him.
“I’m coming up here to see you often,” he said after a moment’s pause.
After he had gone I went into the back room and lit lights and
peeled off the outer skins of my divan bed. I felt quite gay and
light-hearted. I _am_ going to like it here. With the student lamp
lighted the back room is very cozy. I lay in bed and surveyed it
admiringly while my ancestors looked soberly down on me. They are a
very solemn lot, all but the French Huguenot lady with her frivolous
curls and the black velvet round her neck. She has a human look. I’m
sure her blood is strong in me. None of the others would ever have
lived in an eighteen-foot house with a prima donna singing through the
register, and a queer-looking man, with large white teeth, smiling at
one in the passage.