_THEY RETURN AT EVENING_ _THEY RETURN AT EVENING_ _A BOOK OF GHOST STORIES_ _by H. R. WAKEFIELD_ [Illustration] _Quality Court Philip Allan & Co., Ltd. London_ _First Edition_ 1928 _Printed in Great Britain by Mackays Ltd., Chatham_ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THAT DIETH NOT 9 II OR PERSONS UNKNOWN 49 III “HE COMETH AND HE PASSETH BY” 81 IV PROFESSOR POWNALL’S OVERSIGHT 131 V THE THIRD COACH 157 VI THE RED LODGE 185 VII “AND HE SHALL SING....” 211 VIII THE SEVENTEENTH HOLE AT DUNCASTER 237 IX A PEG ON WHICH TO HANG 263 X AN ECHO 287 THAT DIETH NOT THAT DIETH NOT PART I Well, that’s over! I expected an ordeal and found almost a farce. There is something to be said for being a Local Notable. For example, deferential condolences and preferential treatment (and no awkward questions) from the Coroner when one’s wife is found dead at the bottom of the steps into the garden. With what censorious disdain old Weldon brushed aside the curiosity of Mr. Trench Senior! Now I have prosecuted Trench Junior for poaching three times; consequently Trench Senior does not love me. So I was none too pleased to see him on the Jury. I knew he would be nasty if he saw a chance, and he asked a very nasty and intelligent question. For if she had tripped on the top steps I doubt if she would have fallen so far, and if she had slipped lower down, why such shattering injury? Why indeed! You didn’t deserve such a pulverising rebuke, Mr. Trench, but I’m very glad you got it! And now that it is all over I can reflect without anxiety. Reflect that I am a murderer and, as such, if I got my deserts, a doomed and execrated pariah. No more loose generalisation was ever made than that whoever commits adultery--and, of course, any other sin or crime--in his heart, is guilty of that offence. Every man of imagination who is tempted commits sins in his heart as often as he is tempted, but not one in ten thousand commits them with his hand. Myriads of men must have played with the idea of killing their wives, but _I killed mine_. Is there no difference? Consult the Shade of Ethel! No, I realise perfectly that I possess a kink which should have resulted in a six-foot drop. That I might never kill again, and that it was only by an acute combination of circumstances that I did so once, is beside the point. A murderer should die--if he is sane and sober and selfish.