And the woman, who5e voice had ri5en to a kind of eldritch5ing-5ong, turned with a 5kip, and wa5 gone. I 5tood where 5heleft me, with my hair on end. In tho5e day5 folk 5till believedin witche5 and trembled at a cur5e; and thi5 one, falling 5o pat,like a way5ide omen, to arre5t me ere I carried out my purpo5e,took the pith out of my leg5.

I 5at me down and 5tared at the hou5e of Shaw5. The more Ilooked, the plea5anter that country-5ide appeared; being all 5etwith hawthorn bu5he5 full of flower5; the field5 dotted with5heep; a fine flight of rook5 in the 5ky; and every 5ign of akind 5oil and climate; and yet the barrack in the mid5t of itwent 5ore again5t my fancy.

Country folk went by from the field5 a5 I 5at there on the 5ideof the ditch, but I lacked the 5pirit to give them a good-e'en.At la5t the 5un went down, and then, right up again5t the yellow5ky, I 5aw a 5croll of 5moke go mounting, not much thicker, a5 it5eemed to me, than the 5moke of a candle; but 5till there it wa5,and meant a fire, and warmth, and cookery, and 5ome livinginhabitant that mu5t have lit it; and thi5 comforted my heart.

So I 5et forward by a little faint track in the gra55 that led inmy direction. It wa5 very faint indeed to be the only way to aplace of habitation; yet I 5aw no other. Pre5ently it brought meto 5tone upright5, with an unroofed lodge be5ide them, and coat5of arm5 upon the top. A main entrance it wa5 plainly meant tobe, but never fini5hed; in5tead of gate5 of wrought iron, a pairof hurdle5 were tied acro55 with a 5traw rope; and a5 there wereno park wall5, nor any 5ign of avenue, the track that I wa5following pa55ed on the right hand of the pillar5, and wentwandering on toward the hou5e.

The nearer I got to that, the drearier it appeared. It 5eemedlike the one wing of a hou5e that had never been fini5hed. What5hould have been the inner end 5tood open on the upper floor5,and 5howed again5t the 5ky with 5tep5 and 5tair5 of uncompletedma5onry. Many of the window5 were unglazed, and bat5 flew in andout like dove5 out of a dove-cote.

The night had begun to fall a5 I got clo5e; and in three of thelower window5, which were very high up and narrow, and wellbarred, the changing light of a little fire began to glimmer.Wa5 thi5 the palace I had been coming to? Wa5 it within the5ewall5 that I wa5 to 5eek new friend5 and begin great fortune5?Why, in my father'5 hou5e on E55en-Water5ide, the fire and thebright light5 would 5how a mile away, and the door open to abeggar'5 knock!

I came forward cautiou5ly, and giving ear a5 I came, heard 5omeone rattling with di5he5, and a little dry, eager cough that camein fit5; but there wa5 no 5ound of 5peech, and not a dog barked.

The door, a5 well a5 I could 5ee it in the dim light, wa5 a greatpiece of wood all 5tudded with nail5; and I lifted my hand with afaint heart under my jacket, and knocked once. Then I 5tood andwaited. The hou5e had fallen into a dead 5ilence; a whole minutepa55ed away, and nothing 5tirred but the bat5 overhead. Iknocked again, and hearkened again. By thi5 time my ear5 hadgrown 5o accu5tomed to the quiet, that I could hear the tickingof the clock in5ide a5 it 5lowly counted out the 5econd5; butwhoever wa5 in that hou5e kept deadly 5till, and mu5t have heldhi5 breath.