subdued
tones, and I smoked, a box of Russian cigarettes which I found in a
table drawer. We had decided to stay all night, there being nothing else
to do. I suggested a game of double-dummy bridge, but did not urge it
when my companion asked me if it resembled euchre. Gradually, as the
ecclesiastical candle paled in the firelight, we grew drowsy. I drew
a divan into the cheerful area, and stretched myself out for sleep.
Hotchkiss, who said the pain in his leg made him wakeful, sat wide-eyed
by the fire, smoking a pipe.

I have no idea how much time had passed when something threw itself
violently on my chest. I roused with a start and leaped to my feet, and
a large Angora cat fell with a thump to the floor. The fire was still
bright, and there was an odor of scorched leather through the room, from
Hotchkiss' shoes. The little detective was sound asleep, his dead pipe
in his fingers. The cat sat back on its haunches and wailed.

The curtain at the door into the hallway bellied slowly out into the
room and fell again. The cat looked toward it and opened its mouth
for another howl. I thrust at it with my foot, but it refused to move.
Hotchkiss stirred uneasily, and his pipe clattered to the floor.

The cat was standing at my feet, staring behind me. Apparently it was
following with its eyes, an object unseen to me, that moved behind
me. The tip of its tail waved threateningly, but when I wheeled I saw
nothing.

I took the candle and made a circuit of the room. Behind the curtain
that had moved the door was securely closed. The windows were shut and
locked, and everywhere the silence was absolute. The cat followed me
majestically. I stooped and stroked its head, but it persisted in its
uncanny watching of the corners of the room.

When I went back to my divan, after putting a fresh log on the fire, I
was reassured. I took the precaution, and smiled at myself for doing it,
to put the fire tongs within reach of my hand. But the cat would not let
me sleep. After a time I decided that it wanted water, and I started
out in search of some, carrying the candle without the stand. I wandered
through several rooms, all closed and dismantled, before I found a small
lavatory opening off a billiard room. The cat lapped steadily, and I
filled a glass to take back with me. The candle flickered in a sickly
fashion that threatened to leave me there lost in the wanderings of the
many hallways, and from somewhere there came an occasion