I went out and hurried home. Masloboev's words had made a great impression on me. All sorts of ideas occurred to me. . . . As luck would have it, at home an incident awaited me which startled me like an electric shock.
Exactly opposite the gate of the house where I lodged stood a street lamp. just as I was in the gateway a strange figure rushed out from under the street lamp, so strange that I uttered a cry. It was a living thing, terror-stricken, shaking, half-crazed, and it caught at my hand with a scream. I was overwhelmed with horror. It was Nellie.
"Nellie, what is it?" I cried. "What's the matter?"
"There, upstairs . . . he's in our . . . rooms."
"Who is it? Come along, come with me."
"I won't, I won't. I'll wait till he's gone away . . . in the passage . . . I won't."
I went u
