as children sometimes do, but Trevor persisted in
his story, and continued in such evident distress that at last his
father took him home, hoping that his mother would be able to soothe
him. For many weeks, however, the boy gave his parents much anxiety; he
became nervous and strange in his manner, refusing to leave the cottage
by himself, and constantly alarming the household by waking in the night
with cries of 'The man in the wood! father! father!'

In course of time, however, the impression seemed to have worn off, and
about three months later he accompanied his father to the house of a
gentleman in the neighbourhood, for whom Joseph W. occasionally did
work. The man was shown into the study, and the little boy was left
sitting in the hall, and a few minutes later, while the gentleman was
giving W. his instructions, they were both horrified by a piercing
shriek and the sound of a fall, and rushing out they found the child
lying senseless on the floor, his face contorted with terror. The doctor
was immediately summoned, and after some examination he pronounced the
child to be suffering from a kind of fit, apparently produced by a
sudden shock. The boy was taken to one of the bedrooms, and after some
time recovered consciousness, but only to pass into a condition
described by the medical man as one of violent hysteria. The doctor
exhibited a strong sedative, and in the course of two hours pronounced
him fit to walk home, but in passing through the hall the paroxysms of
fright returned and with additional violence. The father perceived that
the child was pointing at some object, and heard the old cry, 'The man
in the wood,' and looking in the direction indicated saw a stone head of
grotesque appearance, which had been built into the wall above one of
the doors. It seems that the owner of the house had recently made
alterations in his premises, and on digging the foundation for some
offices, the men had found a curious head, evidently of the Roman
period, which had been placed in the hall in the manner described. The
head is pronounced by the most experienced archaeologists of the
district to be that of a faun or satyr.[1]

[1] Dr. Phillips tells me that he has seen the head in question, and
assures me that he has never received such a vivid presentment of
intense evil.

From whatever cause arising, this second shock seemed too severe for the
boy Trevor, and at the present date he suffers from a weakness of
intellect