We got back at six, and I had just stopped the engine and helped Mary out when I heard a scream from the garden. I rushed round, to see Tim, his hands to his eyes, staggering across the lawn, the nurse running behind him. And then he screamed again and fell. I carried him into the house and laid him down on a sofa in the drawing-room, and Mary went to him. I took the nurse by the arm and out of the room; she was panting and crying down a face of chalk. “What happened? What happened?” I asked. “I don’t know what it was, sir, but we had been walking in the lane, and had left the door open. Master Tim was a bit ahead of me, and went through the door first, and then he screamed like that.” “Did you see anything that could have frightened him?” “No, sir, nothing.” I went back to them. It was no good questioning Tim, and there was nothing coherent to be learnt from his hysterical sobbing. He grew calmer presently, and was taken up to bed. Suddenly he turned to Mary, and looked at her with eyes of terror. “The green monkey won’t get me, will it, Mummy?” “No, no, it’s all right now,” said Mary, and soon after he went to sleep, and then she and I went down to the drawing-room. She was on the border of hysteria herself. “Oh, Tom, what is the matter with this awful house? I’m _terrified_. Ever since I’ve been here I’ve been terrified. Do you see things?” “Yes,” I replied. “Oh, I wish I’d known. I didn’t want to worry you if you hadn’t. Let me tell you what it’s been like. On the day we arrived I saw a man pass ahead of me into my bedroom. Of course, I only _thought_ I had. And then I’ve heard beastly whisperings, and every time I pass that turn in the corridor I _know_ there’s someone just round the corner. And then the day before you arrived I woke suddenly, and something seemed to force me to go to the window, and I crawled there on hands and knees and peeped through the blind. It was just light enough to see. And suddenly I saw someone running down the lawn, his or her hands outstretched, and there was something ghastly just beside him, and they disappeared behind the trees at the end. I’m terrified every minute.” “What about the servants?” “Nurse hasn’t seen anything, but the others have, I’m certain. And then there are those slimy patches, I think they’re the vilest of all. I don’t think Tim has been troubled till now, but I’m sure he’s been puzzled and uncertain several times.” “Well,” I said, “it’s pretty obvious we must clear out. I’m seeing Sir William about it to-morrow, I hope, and I’m certain enough of what he’ll advise. Meanwhile we must think over where to go. It is a nasty jar, though; I don’t mean merely the money, though that’s bad enough, but the fuss--just when I hoped we were going to be so happy and settled. However, it’s got to be done. We should be mad after a week of this filth-drenched hole.”