When I poked my head out through the crack in my bedroom door, two things became obvious. One was, that all the lights in the hall had been turned off; the other, that the door of the bedchamber across from mine, where the Martian creature had been placed, was slightly ajar; the room itself seemed to be in complete darkness.
This was enough to startle any one with strong nerves and a normal heart. With my nerves jumpy, and my heart likely to go back on me at sufficient provocation, I experienced a strong emotional shock. Fear clutched me that the terrifying creature had escaped from its room, probably while its guard slept, and was now roaming about the castle.
Presently I heard a sound; it came from the far end of the hall, where Pat's room was. A sound of soft footfalls and of heavy breathing. I sensed at once that something terrible was going on. My first thought was to fly upstairs and rouse McGinity; then I decided to meet the situation single-handed. I was so scared that I was almost entirely incapable of thought.
The darkness of the hall was broken dimly at the stair landing by the reflection of light from the lower hall, where a lamp is kept burning all night. I do not consider myself at all a cowardly character, but when I saw a huge, black something moving stealthily in the vicinity of Pat's room, I experienced a shock that left me, for a moment, spineless and breathless.
I have no clear recollection of what happened immediately after this, save that the huge, black something I chased along the hall, and partly down the rear staircase to the servants' wing, turned out to be Mamie Sparks, our fat Negro laundress. She had done some late ironing, and had brought up the necessary fripperies for Pat, leaving the bundle of laundry outside her door.
I was never so glad to see any one as I was to see Mamie. Her jet black skin had gone a ghastly yellow.
"Lawzee, Mr. Livingston, w'at's de mattah?" she asked, faintly. "Yuh near scered de life out o' me. Ah t'ought yuh was dat big monkey-man chasin' me."
I had to explain then what I thought I had seen from my bedroom door. As it developed later, the chauffeur on watch in the Martian's bedroom, had purposely turned off the lights, and opened the door slightly, to get a circulation of air, for which I did not blame him.
Mamie looked very solemn when she spoke, almost weird, as her great eyes rolled around, and her voice fell to a low whisper.
"Ah nevah did like monkeys, nohow," she said, "an' Ah reckon Ah'se nevah goin' to git us'd to havin' one round de house."