Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (27 page)

"It
was
from
her,
too,
that
I
learned
that
fear
had
not
yet
left
the world.
She
was
fearless
enough
in
the
daylight,
and
she
had
the oddest
confidence
in
me;
for
once,
in
a
foolish
moment,
I
made threatening
grimaces
at
her,
and
she
simply
laughed
at
them.
But she
dreaded
the
dark,
dreaded
shadows,
dreaded
black
things.
Darkness
to
her
was
the
one
thing
dreadful.
It
was
a
singularly
passionate emotion,
and
it
set
me
thinking
and
observing.
I
discovered
then, among
other
things,
that
these
little
people
gathered
into
the
great houses
after
dark,
and
slept
in
droves.
To
enter
upon
them
without
a light
was
to
put
them
into
a
tumult
of
apprehension.
I
never
found
one out
of
doors,
or
one
sleeping
alone
within
doors,
after
dark.
Yet
I was
still
such
a
blockhead
that
I
missed
the
lesson
of
that
fear,
and in
spite
of
Weena's
distress
I
insisted
upon
sleeping
away
from
these slumbering
multitudes.

"It
troubled
her
greatly,
but
in
the
end
her
odd
affection
for
me triumphed,
and
for
five
of
the
nights
of
our
acquaintance,
including the
last
night
of
all,
she
slept
with
her
head
pillowed
on
my
arm.
But my
story
slips
away
from
me
as
I
speak
of
her.
It
must
have
been
the night
before
her
rescue
that
I
was
awakened
about
dawn.
I
had
been restless,
dreaming
most
disagreeably
that
I
was
drowned,
and
that sea-anemones
were
feeling
over
my
face
with
their
soft
palps.
I
woke with
a
start,
and
with
an
odd
fancy
that
some
greyish
animal
had
just rushed
out
of
the
chamber.
I
tried
to
get
to
sleep
again,
but
I
felt restless
and
uncomfortable.
It
was
that
dim
grey
hour
when
things are
just
creeping
out
of
darkness,
when
everything
is
colourless
and clear
cut,
and
yet
unreal.
I
got
up,
and
went
down
into
the
great
hall, and
so
out
upon
the
flagstones
in
front
of
the
palace.
I
thought
I would
make
a
virtue
of
necessity,
and
see
the
sunrise.

"The
moon
was
setting,
and
the
dying
moonlight
and
the
first pallor
of
dawn
were
mingled
in
a
ghastly
half-light.
The
bushes
were inky
black,
the
ground
a
sombre
grey,
the
sky
colourless
and
cheerless.
And
up
the
hill
I
thought
I
could
see
ghosts.
Three
several
times, as
I
scanned
the
slope,
I
saw
white
figures.
Twice
I
fancied
I
saw
a solitary
white,
ape-like
creature
running
rather
quickly
up
the
hill, and
once
near
the
ruins
I
saw
a
leash
of
them
carrying
some
dark
body. They
moved
hastily.
I
did
not
see
what
became
of
them.
It
seemed that
they
vanished
among
the
bushes.
The
dawn
was
still
indistinct, you
must
understand.
I
was
feeling
that
chill,
uncertain,
early-morning feeling
you
may
have
known.
I
doubted
my
eyes.