aw the door open and Miss Holmes emerge
in a kind of dressing-gown and still wearing the necklace which Harut
and Marut had given her. Of this I was sure for the light gleamed upon
the red stones.

Also it shone upon her face and showed me without doubt that she was
walking in her sleep.

Gliding as silently as a ghost she crossed the corridor and vanished.
I followed and saw that she had descended an ancient, twisting stairway
which I had noted in the castle wall. I went after her, my stockinged
feet making no noise, feeling my way carefully in the darkness of the
stair, for I did not dare to strike a match. Beneath me I heard a noise
as of someone fumbling with bolts. Then a door creaked on its hinges and
there was some light. When I reached the doorway I caught sight of the
figure of Miss Holmes flitting across a hollow garden that was laid out
in the bottom of the castle moat which had been drained. The garden, as
I had observed when we walked through it on the previous day on our way
to the first covert that we shot, was bordered by a shrubbery through
which ran paths that led to the back drive of the castle.

Across the garden glided the figure of Miss Holmes and after it went I,
crouching and taking cover behind every bush as though I were stalking
big game, which indeed I was. She entered the shrubbery, moving much
more swiftly now, for as she went she seemed to gather speed, like a
stone which is rolled down a hill. It was as though whatever might be
attracting her, for I felt sure that she was being drawn by something,
acted more strongly upon her sleeping will as she drew nearer to it.
For a while I lost sight of her in the shadow of the tall trees. Then
suddenly I saw her again, standing quite still in an opening caused by
the blowing down in the gale of one of the avenue of elms that bordered
the back drive. But now she was no longer alone, for advancing towards
her were two cloaked figures in whom I recognized Harut and Marut.

There she stood with outstretched arms, and towards her, stealthily as
lions stalking a buck, came Harut and Marut. Moreover, between the naked
boughs of the fallen elm I caught sight of what looked like the outline
of a closed carriage standing upon the drive. Also I heard a horse
stamp upon the frosty ground. Round the edge of the little glade I ran,
keeping in the dark shadow, as I went cocking the pistol that was in my
pocket. Then suddenly I darted out and stood between Haru