"You look better," said the doctor. "Now, you will get back to bed, won't you? After that champagne a good sleep will put some mettle into you. It is not yet four o'clock. You have several hours to devote to slumber." The moment Rumsey began to speak, Awdrey's eyes dilated. "I remember something," he said. "I dare say you do--many things--what are you specially alluding to?" "I saw something a short time ago in this room. The memory of it comes dimly back to me. I struggle to grasp it fully. Is your house said to be haunted, Dr. Rumsey?" Dr. Rumsey laughed. "Not that I am aware of," he replied. "Well, haunted or not, I saw something." Awdrey rose slowly as he spoke--he pointed in the direction of the farthest window. "I was sleeping soundly but suddenly found myself broad awake," he began--"I saw over there"--he pointed with his hand to the farthest window, "what looked like a perfect sphere or globe of light--in the centre of this light was a picture. I see the whole thing now in imagination, but the picture is dim--it worries me, I want to see it better. No, I will not get back to bed." "You had a bad dream and are beginning to remember it," said Rumsey. "It was not a dream at all. I was wide awake. Stay--don't question me--my memory becomes more vivid instant by instant. I was wide awake as I said--I got up--I approached the thing. It never swerved from the one position--it was there by the window--a sphere of light and the picture in the middle. There were two men in the picture." "A nightmare, a nightmare," said the doctor. "What did you eat for dinner last night?" "It was not an ordinary nightmare--my memory is now quite vivid. I recall the whole vision. I saw a picture of something that happened. Years ago, Dr. Rumsey--over five years ago now--there was a murder committed on the Plain near my place. Two men, undergraduates of Oxford, were staying at our village inn--they fought about a girl with whom they were both in love. One man killed the other. The murder was committed in a moment of strong provocation and the murderer only got penal servitude. He is serving his time now. It seems strange, does it not, that I should have seen a complete picture of the murder! The whole thing was very vivid and distinct--it has, in short, burnt itself into my brain." Awdrey raised his hand as he spoke and pressed it to his forehead. "My pulse is bounding just here," he said--he touched his temple. "I have only to shut my eyes to see in imagination what I saw in reality half an hour ago. Why should I be worried with a picture of a murder committed five years ago?" "It probably made a deep impression on you at the time," said Dr. Rumsey. "You are now weak and your nerves much out of order--your brain has simply reverted back to it. If I were you I would only think of it as an ordinary nightmare. Pray let me persuade you to go back to bed." "I could not--I am stricken by the most indescribable terror." "Nonsense! You a man!"