"The other side of the room was but dimly lighted, and the noise he made clicking up another electric lamp brought the thing flying forwards again—towards himself. At such a moment it seemed absurd to think of so small a detail, but he remembered his bare feet, and, genuinely frightened, he leaped upon a chair and swished with his sword through the air about him. From this better point of view, with the increased light to aid him, he then saw two things—first, that the glass case usually covering the Guarnerius violin had been shifted: and, secondly, that the moving object was slowly elongating itself into an upright position. Semi-erect and yet most oddly, too, like a creature on its hind legs, it was coming swiftly towards him. It was making for the door—and escape."
Confused, he struck out wildly, lost his balance and fell forward from the chair.
"Then came the most curious thing of all, for as he dropped, the figure also dropped, stooped low down, crouched, dwindled amazingly in size, and rushed past him close to the ground like an animal on all fours. John Gilmer screamed, for he could no longer contain himself. Stumbling over the chair as he turned to follow, cutting and slashing wildly with his sword, he saw half-way down the darkened corridor beyond, the large, scuttling outline of—a cat!
"The door into the outer landing was somehow ajar, and the next second the beast was out, but not before the steel had fallen with a dreadful crashing blow upon the front disappearing leg, almost severing it from the body."
Months afterwards the Gilmers met Hyman wearing spectacles and a beard. William pointed out to his brother another difference.
"But didn't you also notice——"
"What?"
"He had an empty sleeve."
"An empty sleeve?"
"Yes," said William. "He's lost an arm!"