I got home I don't quite know how; but in my mind there was no longer
any indifference as to the thing, whatever it was, that haunted these
ruins. My scepticism disappeared like a mist. I was as firmly determined
that there was something as Roland was. I did not for a moment pretend
to myself that it was possible I could be deceived; there were movements
and noises which I understood all about,--cracklings of small branches
in the frost, and little rolls of gravel on the path, such as have a
very eerie sound sometimes, and perplex you with wonder as to who has
done it, _when there is no real mystery_; but I assure you all these
little movements of nature don't affect you one bit _when there is
something_. I understood _them_. I did not understand the sigh. That was
not simple nature; there was meaning in it, feeling, the soul of a
creature invisible. This is the thing that human nature trembles at,--a
creature invisible, yet with sensations, feelings, a power somehow of
expressing itself. I had not the same sense of unwillingness to turn my
back upon the scene of the mystery which I had experienced in going to
the stables; but I almost ran home, impelled by eagerness to get
everything done that had to be done, in order to apply myself to finding
it out. Bagley was in the hall as usual when I went in. He was always
there in the afternoon, always with the appearance of perfect
occupation, yet, so far as I know, never doing anything. The door was
open, so that I hurried in without any pause, breathless; but the sight
of his calm regard, as he came to help me off with my overcoat, subdued
me in a moment. Anything out of the way, anything incomprehensible,
faded to nothing in the presence of Bagley. You saw and wondered how
_he_ was made: the parting of his hair, the tie of his white neckcloth,
the fit of his trousers, all perfect as works of art; but you could see
how they were done, which makes all the difference. I flung myself upon
him, so to speak, without waiting to note the extreme unlikeness of the
man to anything of the kind I meant. "Bagley," I said, "I want you to