Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (72 page)

What
on
earth
was
I
to
do
next?
The
answer
came
unexpectedly. A
light
flashed
suddenly
across
the
ceiling,
darting
its
bright
beam swiftly
from
point
to
point,
and
with
it
came
the
sound
of
footsteps. Someone
was
moving
cautiously
along
the
landing
above,
and
the flash
came
obviously
from
a
shifting
electric
torch.
I
slipped
back
into the
comer,
every
nerve
taut
with
horrified
anticipation.

"Who's
there?"
called
a
man's
voice
loudly.
"Who
is
it?"

I
made
an
attempt
to
answer,
but
no
sound
left
my
throat.
The same
second
the
steps
quickened,
left
the
upper
landing,
and
began
to come
down
the
carpetless
stairs.
I
saw
the
dark
outline
of
a
man shading
his
eyes
with
one
hand
from
the
glare
of
a
torch
he
shifted to
and
fro
in
front
of
him.
He
came
down
slowly,
cautiously,
treading each
board
with
care.
A
dozen
steps
from
the
bottom
he
stopped
and turned
the
full
light
of
the
brilliant
torch
upon
me
where
I
crouched in
the
angle
against
the
wall.
I
stood
helpless
in
this
dazzling
blaze, the
stream
showing
me
up
mercilessly
from
head
to
foot,
the
man
who held
it
of
course
invisible.

"Oh,
it's
you!"
came
a
voice
of
startled
surprise.
"So
you're
back
in England!
That
explains
it
.
.
."
as
the
speaker
turned
the
light
upon himself,
so
that
I
recognised,
with
a
surprise
equal
to
his
own,
but with
a
relief
he
could
hardly
have
guessed,
the
face
and
figure
of
Dr. Vronski.

I
could
think
of
nothing
to
say
or
do
except
what
I
did
say
and
do:

I
pointed
overhead.
"Hush!
Hush!"
I
cried
in
a
stifled
whisper.
"He's
up
there.
I've
just
seen
him.
He
tapped
on
the
window—
beckoned.
He's
come
back,
by
God
---
"

"Who?"
he
asked,
his
voice,
it
seemed
to
me,
strangely
calm,
his manner
quiet
and
matter
of
fact,
the
odd
composure
of
the
man adding
to
my
horror.

"Mantravers,"
I
whispered.
"I
saw
him
at
the
window.
He
tapped. Somebody
was
with
him.
Up
there
on
the
next
floor
close
behind you."

He
did
not
even
turn.
He
had
reached
my
side
by
now.
His
face was
close
to
mine,
so
that
I
saw
the
fierce
light
shining
in
his
eyes, but
there
was
no
excitement
in
him.
Cold
and
collected
as
a
fish
he seemed.

"He
is
expecting
you,"
he
said,
as
quietly
as
you
please.
"The
other will
not
stay—stay
here,
I
mean.
He
has
led
him
to
the
point
where you
are
needed.
The
point
you
left
him
at
four
years
ago."
His
eyes ran
over
me
like
a
moving
flame.
"To
him—remember
if
you
can— it's
not
even
a
minute."