"'I don't know,' I said. 'I can't understand it, unless you've really been walking about in your sleep.'
"In the early hours of the morning, whilst it was still dark, I was waked by a loud noise. I sat up in bed, and listened. And from downstairs, I heard:--bang, bang, bang, one door after another being slammed; at least, that is the impression the sounds gave to me.
"One thing the landlord was particular to point out, that no tenant had ever complained about knockings, or door slamming. As for the smell, he seemed positively indignant about it; but why, I don't suppose he knew himself, except that he probably had some vague feeling that it was an indirect accusation on my part that the drains were not right.
"What did it mean? He had seen a Woman, searching for something. _I_ had not seen this Woman. _I_ had seen a Child, running away, and hiding from Something or Someone. _He_ had not seen the Child, or the other things--only the Woman. And _I_ had not seen her. What did it all mean?
"'Give it to me, for God's sake!' I said, and slipped the gun from his hand; and in the same instant there was a sound of running steps up the garden path, and immediately the flash of a bull's-eye lantern upon the fan light over the front door. Then the door was tried, and directly afterward there came a thunderous knocking, which told me a policeman had heard the shot.
"The inspector caught the man by the shoulder, and deliberately sniffed his breath.
"'The churchyard,' he said, '... at the back of the 'ouse.'
"'I think--' began the inspector, and shone his light toward the stairway; and at this the constable's restraint went utterly, and he ran for the stairs, making a queer sound in his throat.