e, and its
motion was very quick and very horrible to look at. I was dreadfully
afraid it would sting me; somebody had told me, I thought, that it
was venomous; but what tormented me most of all was the wondering and
wondering as to who had sent it into my room, and what was the mystery
which I felt it contained.

"It hid itself under the cupboard and under the chest of drawers, and
crawled into the corners. I sat on a chair and kept my legs tucked
under me. Then the beast crawled quietly across the room and disappeared
somewhere near my chair. I looked about for it in terror, but I still
hoped that as my feet were safely tucked away it would not be able to
touch me.

"Suddenly I heard behind me, and about on a level with my head, a sort
of rattling sound. I turned sharp round and saw that the brute had
crawled up the wall as high as the level of my face, and that its
horrible tail, which was moving incredibly fast from side to side, was
actually touching my hair! I jumped up--and it disappeared. I did not
dare lie down on my bed for fear it should creep under my pillow. My
mother came into the room, and some friends of hers. They began to hunt
for the reptile and were more composed than I was; they did not seem to
be afraid of it. But they did not understand as I did.

"Suddenly the monster reappeared; it crawled slowly across the room and
made for the door, as though with some fixed intention, and with a slow
movement that was more horrible than ever.

"Then my mother opened the door and called my dog, Norma. Norma was a
great Newfoundland, and died five years ago.

"She sprang forward and stood still in front of the reptile as if she
had been turned to stone. The beast stopped too, but its tail and
claws still moved about. I believe animals are incapable of feeling
supernatural fright--if I have been rightly informed,--but at this
moment there appeared to me to be something more than ordinary about
Norma's terror, as though it must be supernatural; and as though she
felt, just as I did myself, that this reptile was connected with some
mysterious secret, some fatal omen.

"Norma backed slowly and carefully away from the brute, which followed
her, creeping deliberately after her as though it intended to make a
sudden dart and sting her.

"In spite of Norma's terror she looked furious, though she trembled in
all her limbs. At length she slowly bared her terrible teeth, opened
her great red jaws, hesitated--took