"Come with me to the house," I said. "I want to talk with you."
He gave a cry of abject fear.
"I mustn't! I mustn't! I be afeerd!"
"What are you afraid of?"
"I ca'ant tell 'ee! You must go away!"
"Go away where?"
"Anywhere; but you mustn't stay in thicky house! I've tould 'ee. Summin'll happen to 'ee ef you do'ant!"
"What will happen to me?"
"I ca'ant tell 'ee, but you must go away!" The man repeated the words with wearisome iteration. He seemed to be obsessed with this one thought. He spoke unintelligently. He might have been a machine repeating over and over the same words.
"You are Fever Lurgy," I said.