pen the door, which was not
only locked on the outside, but the lock seemed rebellious from disuse;
and when at last he stood back and motioned me to enter before him, I
was greeted on the threshold by that peculiar and convincing sound of
the rain echoing over empty chambers. The entrance-hall, in which I now
found myself, was of a good size and good proportions; potted plants
occupied the corners; the paved floor was soiled with muddy footprints
and encumbered with straw; on a mahogany hall-table, which was the only
furniture, a candle had been stuck and suffered to burn down--plainly a
long while ago, for the gutterings were green with mould. My mind, under
these new impressions, worked with unusual vivacity. I was here shut off
with Fenn and his hireling in a deserted house, a neglected garden, and
a wood of evergreens; the most eligible theatre for a deed of darkness.
There came to me a vision of two flagstones raised in the hall-floor,
and the driver putting in the rainy afternoon over my grave; and the
prospect displeased me extremely. I felt I had carried my pleasantry as
far as was safe; I must lose no time in declaring my true character,
and I was even choosing the words in which I was to begin, when the
hall-door was slammed-to behind me with a bang, and I turned, dropping
my stick as I did so, in time--and not any more than time--to save my
life.

The surprise of the onslaught and the huge weight of my assailant gave
him the advantage. He had a pistol in his right hand of a portentous
size, which it took me all my strength to keep deflected. With his left
arm he strained me to his bosom, so that I thought I must be crushed or
stifled. His mouth was open, his face crimson, and he panted aloud with
hard animal sounds. The affair was as brief as it was hot and sudden.
The potations which had swelled and bloated his carcase had already
weakened the springs of energy. One more huge effort, that came near to
overpower me, and in which the pistol happily exploded, and I felt his
grasp slacken and weakness come on his joints; his legs succumbed under
his weight, and he grovelled on his knees on the stone floor. "Spare
me!" he gasped.

I had not only been abominably frightened; I was shocked besides: my
delicacy was in arms, like a lady to whom violence should have been
offered by a similar monster. I plucked myself from his horrid contact,
I snatched the pistol--even discharged, it was a formidable weapon--and
men