r?" the man said; but then I had not told
him what it was.

It was ten o'clock when we set out. All was perfectly quiet indoors. My
wife was with Roland, who had been quite calm, she said, and who (though,
no doubt, the fever must run its course) had been better ever since I
came. I told Bagley to put on a thick greatcoat over his evening coat,
and did the same myself, with strong boots; for the soil was like a
sponge, or worse. Talking to him, I almost forgot what we were going to
do. It was darker even than it had been before, and Bagley kept very
close to me as we went along. I had a small lantern in my hand, which
gave us a partial guidance. We had come to the corner where the path
turns. On one side was the bowling-green, which the girls had taken
possession of for their croquet-ground,--a wonderful enclosure surrounded
by high hedges of holly, three hundred years old and more; on the other,
the ruins. Both were black as night; but before we got so far, there was
a little opening in which we could just discern the trees and the lighter
line of the road. I thought it best to pause there and take breath.
"Bagley," I said, "there is something about these ruins I don't
understand. It is there I am going. Keep your eyes open and your wits
about you. Be ready to pounce upon any stranger you see,--anything, man
or woman. Don't hurt, but seize anything you see." "Colonel," said
Bagley, with a little tremor in his breath, "they do say there's things
there--as is neither man nor woman." There was no time for words. "Are
you game to follow me, my man? that's the question," I said. Bagley fell
in without a word, and saluted. I knew then I had nothing to fear.

We went, so far as I could guess, exactly as I had come; when I heard
that sigh. The darkness, however, was so complete that all marks, as of
trees or paths, disappeared. One moment we felt our feet on the gravel,
another sinking noiselessly into the slippery grass, that was all. I had
shut up my lantern, not wishing to scare any one, whoever it might be.
Bagley followed, it seemed to me, exactly in my footsteps as I made my
way, as I supposed, towards the mass of the ruined house. We seemed to
take a long time groping along seeking this; the squash of the wet soil
under our feet was the only thing that marked our progress. After a while
I stood still to see, or rather feel, where we were. The darkness was
very still, but no stiller than is usual in a winter's night. The