Then the hands went out of the room, and Johannes was forced to follow them. In another room--that of Heléne's nurse--there they were, as busy as ever, this time with a pair of scissors. The scissors had fallen upon the floor close to a toilet-table. One point having stuck through the carpet into the floor, there they stood--erect. The invisible one was laughing again--giggling and snickering--and all six little hands were pointing at the scissors. A light was burning in Heléne's room, but the poor, sick girl was not now complaining. All was quiet there. The door opened, and the nurse came out, leaving it open behind her. The nurse went to her own room to look for something. She was a long time searching, but could not find it. Surely it was the scissors. All this time they were sticking by one point, in the carpet behind the toilet-table, and the six little hands were pointing at them. But the seeker apparently neither saw the hands nor heard the laughter. Johannes could not help her. He had to follow the hands. He still heard giggling and snickering, and saw the little hands go away--downstairs, through the hall, outside. Save for the shining of the stars--sharp and clear in the black sky--it was still very dark out-of-doors. On the terrace, there was visible to Johannes, a tall, dark figure. He could look at it better than at the sneering ones. He recognized it, instantly. It was He with whom he had traveled by sea. The dark figure now took the lead with slow, firm strides. Pluizer went next, but in between these two there was a third. It was quite impossible for Johannes to look at that third one. When he tried to look, he felt an indescribable agony. That third one! Yes, he certainly knew it well. It was _it_! Do you understand? The _It_ which lies in wait around the corner, outside the door, while you dream of being alone in a dark room, vainly trying to call for help. _It_, the most frightful object!--so frightful that no one can either look at or describe it. These three now passed down the dark avenue of the park until they came to the black pool lying deathly still and calmly expectant--shining beneath the starlight. There the three sat down and waited. It was still as still could be. Not a leaf rustled. The star-tips on the water were as sharply defined as points of light upon fathomless darkness. "Prettily planned; don't you think so?" said Pluizer. _It_ grumbled, sneeringly. Thereupon good Death, in a soft, restful voice, said: "Yet all is for the best!" Then again they sat very still. Johannes waited with them for he could not do otherwise. The sound of a door was heard in the still night air, and a white figure drew near, with light, swift steps. By the faint starlight Johannes saw the slender girl in a white night-dress, her black hair flowing loose.