negative which he was holding up to the red lamp. It showed the girl
plainly, looking upward as I had seen her, but the thing that astonished
me was the shadow of an enormous hoof, right above her, as if it were
coming down upon her out of the shadows. And you know, I had run her
bang into that danger. That was the thought that was chief in my mind.

"As soon as the developing was complete I fixed the plate and examined it
carefully in a good light. There was no doubt about it at all, the thing
above Miss Hisgins was an enormous, shadowy hoof. Yet I was no nearer to
coming to any definite knowledge and the only thing I could do was to
warn Parsket to say nothing about it to the girl for it would only
increase her fright, but I showed the thing to her father for I
considered it right that he should know.

"That night we took the same precaution for Miss Hisgins's safety as on
the two previous nights and Parsket kept me company; yet the dawn came in
without anything unusual having happened and I went off to bed.

"When I got down to lunch I learnt that Beaumont had wired to say that he
would be in soon after four; also that a message had been sent to the
Rector. And it was generally plain that the ladies of the house were in a
tremendous fluster.

"Beaumont's train was late and he did not get home until five, but even
then the Rector had not put in an appearance and the butler came in to
say that the coachman had returned without him as he had been called away
unexpectedly. Twice more during the evening the carriage was sent down,
but the clergyman had not returned and we had to delay the marriage until
the next day.