Having no further doubt of her personality he came out with thoughtless abruptness from the closet behind her, and looking round suddenly she beheld his shadowy fur-clad outline. At once she raised her hands in horror, as if to protect herself from him; she uttered a shriek, and turned shudderingly to the wall, covering her face.
Swithin would have picked her up in a moment, but by this time he could hear footsteps rushing upstairs, in response to her cry. In consternation, and with a view of not compromising her, he effected his retreat as fast as possible, reaching the bend of the corridor just as her brother Louis appeared with a light at the other extremity.
‘What’s the matter, for heaven’s sake, Viviette?’ said Louis.
‘My husband!’ she involuntarily exclaimed.
‘What nonsense!’
‘O yes, it is nonsense,’ she added, with an effort. ‘It was nothing.’
‘But what was the cause of your cry?’
She had by this time recovered her reason and judgment. ‘O, it was a trick of the imagination,’ she said, with a faint laugh. ‘I live so much alone that I get superstitious—and—I thought for the moment I saw an apparition.’
‘Of your late husband?’
‘Yes. But it was nothing; it was the outline of the—tall clock and the chair behind. Would you mind going down, and leaving me to go into my room for a moment?’