It was then that the thunder-clap came, and that I was James Herbert Jeffries, whole, and a murderer. Swiftly as Archie and I came together the halves of that Giant came together. Instinctively I had guarded my head, perhaps realising--I cannot say--that a single drop of blood might mean for me precisely what I intended to do to him; but it mattered little whether blood blinded my eyes or not. Another redness gorged me, and then, my mind became whitely blind. As colours are lost on a disc that revolves, so all my plans and preparations spun and mingled. All was there, yet nothing was there. For an instant my visual memories of that pleasant, dimity-papered apartment stood separate; my own old experiences and new divinations also stood separate; I saw ahead, three or four minutes ahead, his struggles in my great arms, my left arm about his ankles, my right hand over his mouth, the red of the woollen bell-rope against his white neck ... and then all wheeled hideously together.... I was upon him, smothering him with my bulk, and wondering even as I bore him backwards to the door whether I myself was bleeding.... * * * * * The fourth stage was characterised throughout by an extraordinary quietness. There was the light sound of the turning of paper in it, for I had to search in a pile of old books and papers for his shorthand pad and to make sure I had the right one--I had to take from my breast pocket another sheet of paper and to glance at that also to make sure that it also was the right one--and then I had to approach the bedroom door and to drop this into his pocket.... But before I did any of these things I tiptoed to the mirror over the mantelpiece in order to see whether I bled. I did not. My left eye was of a dull red, but not with blood, and I could deal with that. As a preparation for dealing with it I emptied at a draught the brandy flask he had prepared for his journey on the morrow. Softly as a cat I continued to move about. Then I had to remember which of his stairs creaked to the tread. They were the fourth and the tenth from the first landing; I knew that as well as I knew my own name; and yet for a time I really could not remember the numbers. The room was quiet as a grave as I gave a final glance round at the displayed Evidence.... Then behind his Queen Anne grate a cricket began to sing. Nobody saw me leave the house. I had to bring his latchkey away. Without it the latch would have clicked as I closed the door from the outside. Then I crossed Mecklenburgh Square and walked towards King's Cross. A quarter of an hour later an apparently very drunken man of uncommon stature lurched heavily through the swing doors of my public-house and fell full length on the floor in the middle of a knot of drinkers. A barman dived quickly under the flap of the counter, with an "Outside!" rushed towards me. I was hauled to my feet. I had a hand over one eye.