emed full of flashes of lightning. He heard
sounds which made him cold with horror. He was highly strung nervously,
and was really in a state bordering upon hysteria. The mystery which
surrounded him was the main cause. He was never himself before an
unknown quantity. He had too much imagination. He made all sorts of
surmises as to the stranger who was haunting Clemency. Starting with two
known quantities, he might have accomplished something, but here he had
only one: Clemency herself. He had a good head for algebra, but a man
cannot work out a problem easily with only one known quantity. He began
to wonder if the poor girl herself were sleeping. He realized a sort of
protective tenderness for her, and indignation on her behalf. It did not
occur to him as being love. Still the image of her wonderful mother
dominated him. But his mind dwelt upon the girl. He thought of a piazza
whose roof opened as he knew upon Clemency's room. He wondered if a man
like that would stick at anything. Then he recalled what Doctor Gordon
had said about Clemency's not being in any bodily danger, and again he
speculated. The room began to grow pale with the late winter dawn.
Familiar objects began to gain clearness of outline. There were two
windows in James's room. They gave upon the piazza. Suddenly James made
a leap from his bed. He sprang to one of the windows. Flattened against
it was the face of the man. But the face was so destitute of
consciousness of him, that James doubted if he saw rightly. The wide
eyes seemed to gaze upon him without seeing him, the mouth smiled as if
at something within. The next moment James was sure that the face was
not there. He drew on his trousers, thrust his feet into his shoes, and
was out of his room and the house, and on the piazza. It was still
snowing, but the dawn was overcoming the storm. The whole world was lit
with dead white pallor like the face of a corpse. James rushed the
length of the piazza. He looked at the walk leading to it. He thought he
could distinguish footprints. He looked on the piazza, but the wind,
being on the other side of the house, there was not enough snow there to
make footprints visible. The snow on the walk was drifted. He looked at
it closely, and made sure of deep marks. He stood for a moment undecided
what to do. He disliked to arouse Doctor Gordon. He was afraid of
awakening Mrs. Ewing, if he ventured into the upper part of the house.
Then he thought of the man Aaron w