Algernon Blackwood

“ He would read one more chapter and turn in himself. Good sleep would chase the phantoms effectually. But the new chapter began with wearisome description, and his thoughts wandered again⁠—theodolite⁠—black cat⁠—Hubert⁠—the woman’s face.⁠ ⁠...
His eyes were travelling heavily through a big paragraph, when a faint sound made itself audible in the room behind him, and he turned with a quick start to look over the back of his chair. The candle threw his head and shoulders, greatly magnified, upon wall and ceiling; but the room was empty; nothing seemed to stir. ”

“ And when he had crawled into bed William felt that he was shaking all over, and for a long time before sleep again overtook them he kept giving little nervous starts of fear. He knew his brother too well to ask him just then what had really happened, but next morning, when the sunshine was in the room, he pressed him for an explanation, and Hubert admitted that he had never felt so frightened in his life; horrible dreams of being stifled had haunted his sleep, and, finally, someone had come stealthily up to the bed and tried to suffocate him by putting a blanket over his face. ”

“ He laughed cheerfully, and plunged into the details of his week’s work⁠—he was a stockbroker⁠—and of family matters that were of interest between them, William avoided all reference to his own feelings and kept the talk purposely on the most matter-of-fact subjects possible. He had carefully manoeuvered that Hubert should occupy the large bed, but he could not repress a creeping sense of horror When the time for sleep came and he saw his brother snuggling down under the sheets and blankets, and putting his head upon that haunted pillow. ”

“ His work took him out upon the open hilltops, where the sight of the sea, dull crimson under the wintry sunset, and the beauty of the hilly country, did so much towards further dissipating the original impression of gloom that when he returned about six o’clock, with a roaring appetite, he had passed into a more vigorous and cheerful state of mind, and paid little attention to the dour-faced farmer’s wife or to sensations of uneasiness and dismay which had at first oppressed him. ”

“ One thing was certain he could never sleep in such a bed. He would slip across to the other room, The dread of perhaps meeting the woman in the passage gave him pause for a moment, but after all it was a lesser terror, and he softly opened the door and crept, candle in hand, over the cold boards to the other side of the landing. ”

“ Garfit.
“You better tell my ’usband that,” she replied with something like a sigh mixed up in her sullen volce. “He’ll be here tonight or tomorrow morning.”
“Surly old cat,” said Hubert, when they were alone at bedtime in their room; “she’d have to wear a veil to keep her boarders. Her face is like some of those women in the Chamber of Horrors.” ”

“ She crossed the landing and showed him the room referred to; it was large, with two windows, an armchair, and a deep fireplace.
“Only I recommends the other,” she added somewhat inconsequently,
“I prefer the larger one, thank you,” said Beach shortly, and then and there clinched the bargain, making the best terms he could with her for breakfast and supper as well.
“Then you holds to the big one,” repeated the woman, after counting over the silver in her big bony hands, “because my ’usband⁠—and he’ll be back termorrer⁠—’e says the little one sleeps in best.” ”

“ The general servant clattered about the place, waiting upon him, under occasional orders from the mistress; and a young man, presumably a Garfit, lumbered once or twice through the kitchen with noisy nailed boots and a curiosity to inspect the stranger within his gates. ”

“ But a thorough search of the newspaper files at the club when they got back to London corroborated all that the Innkeeper had told them of the Garfit murder. The surveyor, moreover, prepared a careful report of the case for the Psychical Research Society, and, when it was published, sent a copy to his brother with various annotations down the margins in red ink. ”