Somewhere a dog was howling.

On a sudden I felt cold. The sunshine was gone, and the chamber had
become grey and dismal. Misery was in the air.

A stifled exclamation made me look round.

My lady had backed shrinking into a corner, one little hand pressed to
her heart, and in her hunted eyes sat Fear dominant. The sweet face was
drawn and colourless, and her breath came quickly, so that it was
grievous to mark the flutter of her smooth white chest.

Mechanically I turned to seek the cause of her terror.

I saw a powerfully-built man standing square in the closet's doorway.
His face was coarse and red and brutal, and his small black eyes glowed
with an ugly twinkle as he surveyed his quarry. Upon the thick lips
there was a sinister smile, which broadened hideously as he glanced at
the nosegay held betwixt his finger and thumb--the little nosegay that
she had gathered so lightly from the painted plate. A wide-skirted coat
of red fell nearly to his knees and hid his breeches. His short black
periwig was bobbed, and a black silk tie was knotted about his neck.
Stockings were rolled above his knees, and a huge tongue thrust out from
each of his buckled shoes. And in his left hand was a heavy riding-whip
whose handle was wrought about with gold. This he kept clapping against
his leg with a smack and a ghastly relish that there was no mistaking.

Again that phantom chorus rose up and rang in my ears--

"_A woman, a spaniel, and a walnut tree,