"They've opened the door! Don't let them in. Don't let them come near me again."
Although they knew Paredes had been in the court the spell of the Cedars was so heavy upon them that for a moment they didn't know what to expect. They hesitated with a little of the abnormal apprehension Silas Blackburn exposed. Then Rawlins sprang forward, and Bobby called:
"Carlos!"
Paredes stepped from one side. He lingered against the black background of the doorway. It was plain enough something was wrong with him. In the first place, although he had opened the door, he had been unwilling to enter.
"Shut the door," Silas Blackburn moaned.
Paredes, with a quick gesture of surrender, stepped in and obeyed. His face was white. He had lost his immaculate appearance. His clothing showed stains of snow and mould. He held his left hand behind his back.
"What's the matter with you?" Robinson demanded.
The Panamanian's laugh lacked its usual indifference.
"When I said the Cedars was full of ghosts I should have heeded my own warning. I might better have stayed comfortably locked up in Smithtown."
Silas Blackburn spoke in a hoarse whisper: