"They were held on the willow flat, outside the east wall," he said. "I
never allowed any of them inside the walls." The suavity of his manner
broke fiercely and suddenly. "Everything inside the walls is mine!" he
declared with heat. "Mine! mine! mine! Understand? I will not tolerate
in here anything that is not mine; that does not obey my will; that does
not come when I say come; go when I say go; and fall silent when I say
be still!"

A wild and fantastic idea suddenly illuminated my understanding.

"Even the crickets, the flies, the frogs, the birds," I said,
audaciously.

He fixed his wildcat eyes upon me without answering.

"And," I went on, deliberately, "who could deny your perfect right to do
what you will with your own? And if they did deny that right what more
natural than that they should be made to perish--or take their
breakfasts in their rooms?"

I was never more aware of the absolute stillness of the house than when
I uttered these foolish words. My hand was on the gun in my
trouser-band; but even as I spoke a sickening realization came over me
that if the old man opposite so willed, I would have no slightest chance
to use it. The air behind me seemed full of menace, and the hair crawled
on the back of my neck. Hooper stared at me without sign for ten
seconds; his right hand hovered above the polished table. Then he let it
fall without giving what I am convinced would have been a signal.

"Will you have more coffee--my guest?" he inquired. And he stressed