There was a chance match in my pyjamas’ pocket, and I struck it on

the wall. The room was utterly empty. It held not even a shadow. I

went quickly down to bed, cursing my wretched nerves and my foolish,

vivid dreams. But as soon as ever I was asleep again, the same uncouth

figure of a man crept back to my bedside, and bending over me with his

immense head close to my ear, whispered repeatedly in my dreams, “I

want your body; I want its covering. I’m waiting for it, and listening

always.” Words scarcely less foolish than the dream.

But I wonder what that queer odour was up in the square room. I

noticed it again, and stronger than ever before, and it seemed to be

also in my bedroom when I woke this morning.

Nov. 29.—Slowly, as moonbeams rise over a misty sea in June, the

thought is entering my mind that my nerves and somnambulistic dreams

do not adequately account for the influence this house exercises upon

me. It holds me as with a fine, invisible net. I cannot escape if I

would. It draws me, and it means to keep me.

Nov. 30.—The post this morning brought me a letter from Aden,

forwarded from my old rooms in Earl’s Court. It was from Chapter, my

former Trinity chum, who is on his way home from the East, and asks

for my address. I sent it to him at the hotel he mentioned, “to await

arrival”.

As I have already said, my windows command a view of the alley, and

I can see an arrival without difficulty. This morning, while I was

busy writing, the sound of footsteps coming up the alley filled me

with a sense of vague alarm that I could in no way account for. I went

over to the window, and saw a man standing below waiting for the door

to be opened. His shoulders were broad, his top-hat glossy, and his

overcoat fitted beautifully round the collar. All this I could see,

but no more. Presently the door was opened, and the shock to my nerves

was unmistakable when.I heard a man’s voice ask, “Is Mr. — still

here?” mentioning my name. I could not catch the answer, but it could

only have been in the affirmative, for the man entered the hall and the

door shut to behind him. But I waited in vain for the sound of his

steps on the stairs. There was no sound of any kind. It seemed to me

so strange that I opened my door and looked out. No one was anywhere

to be seen. I walked across the narrow landing, and looked through the

window that commands the whole length of the alley.