orifice. Instinctively he laid his hand on his revolver, and stood up
ready to protect his wife. Then, seeing that nothing happened, and that
the light and all outside the tower remained the same, he softly pulled
the curtain over the window.

Sir Nathaniel switched on the light again, and in its comforting glow
they began to talk freely.




CHAPTER XXII--AT CLOSE QUARTERS


"She has diabolical cunning," said Sir Nathaniel. "Ever since you left,
she has ranged along the Brow and wherever you were accustomed to
frequent. I have not heard whence the knowledge of your movements came
to her, nor have I been able to learn any data whereon to found an
opinion. She seems to have heard both of your marriage and your absence;
but I gather, by inference, that she does not actually know where you and
Mimi are, or of your return. So soon as the dusk fails, she goes out on
her rounds, and before dawn covers the whole ground round the Brow, and
away up into the heart of the Peak. The White Worm, in her own proper
shape, certainly has great facilities for the business on which she is
now engaged. She can look into windows of any ordinary kind. Happily,
this house is beyond her reach, if she wishes--as she manifestly does--to
remain unrecognised. But, even at this height, it is wise to show no
lights, lest she might learn something of our presence or absence."

"Would it not be well, sir, if one of us could see this monster in her