p to me. He was
wrapped in a shaggy great-coat, and a slouch hat worn low over his eyes
completely hid his face from me. In his disengaged hand he carried a
lantern.

"'By Jove!' I exclaimed, 'I am glad to see you, for I've lost the track
to Liffre. Can you tell me, or, better still, show me, the way to some
house where I can put up for the remainder of the night?'

"The stranger made no reply, but bidding me follow with a wave of his
hand, rode silently in front of me, and although I tried to keep up with
him, I could not; and the odd thing was, that without apparently
increasing his pace, he always maintained his distance. After proceeding
in this manner for possibly ten minutes, we suddenly turned to the left,
and I found myself in a big clearing in the wood, with a long, low-built
house opposite me.

"My guide then paused, and indicating the front door of the house with
an emphatic gesture of his hand, seemed suddenly to melt away into thin
air, for although I peered about me on all sides to try to find some
indications of him, neither he nor his horse was anywhere to be seen.
Thinking this was rather queer, but quite ready to attribute it to
natural causes, I approached the building, and, making use of my
knuckles in lieu of a knocker, beat a loud tattoo on the woodwork. There
was no response. Again I rapped, and the door slowly opening revealed a
pair of gleaming, dark eyes. 'What do you want?' enquired a harsh voice
in barbarous accents. 'A night's lodging,' I replied; 'and I'm willing
to pay a good price for it, for I'm more than half frozen.'

"At this the door opened wider, and I found myself confronted by a woman
with a candle. She had not the most prepossessing of expressions, though
her hair, eyes and features were decidedly good. She was dressed with
tawdry smartness--earrings, necklace, and rings, and very high-heeled
buckle shoes. Indeed, her costume was so out of keeping with the
rusticity of her surroundings as to be quite extraordinary. This fact
struck me at once, as did her fingers, which, though spatulate and ugly,
had been manicured, and of course very much over-manicured, for effect.
Had this not been the case, I probably should not have noticed them. But
the unnatural gloss on them, exaggerated by the candlelight, made me
look, and I was at once impressed with the criminal formation of the
fingers--the club-shaped ends denoted something very bad--something
homicidal--and as my eyes wandered