Our client cleared his throat with a harsh rasping sound before going on with his narrative.
"I had got quite close to my own dwelling, thank God, when my attention was arrested by a singular noise. It was a low, unpleasant sound, like somebody clearing his throat. A pony and carriage had passed me some minutes before, going toward Stavely, but I was completely alone in that bare landscape, Mr. Pons, and I can tell you that I was considerably startled. But I moved on, as I was only a few hundred yards from the entrance to Grimstone Manor road. Fortunate that I did so."
Pons' eyes were shining.
"Why so, Mr. Grimstone?"
"Because otherwise I would not be here talking to you now, Mr. Pons," the old man replied.
"I heard the strange noise again a few moments later, and turned just short of the road. Mr. Pons, I had never seen anything like it. There was only the afterglow lingering in the sky and the harsh cry of some bird. I might have been upon the moon for all the human help at hand."
Our client swallowed heavily and his eyes were dark with fear.
"Mr. Pons, as true as I sit here, a corpse figure was dragging itself from the edge of the marsh, all burning and writhing with bluish fire!"
3
The silence which followed was broken by a sound like a pistol shot. It was made by Solar Pons slapping his right thigh with the flat of his hand.
"Capital, Mr. Grimstone! What then?"
"Why, Mr. Pons, I took to my heels, of course," said Silas Grimstone with commendable frankness, casting a resentful look at Pons.
"But the thing which pursued me had devilish cunning. It seemed to make its way across the marsh in a series of hops, as though to cut me off."
"It did not follow on the road, then?"
Solar Pons sat with his pipe wreathing smoke in his hand, completely absorbed in our visitor's narrative. Grimstone shook his head.
"It was trying to prevent me from getting to my house, Mr. Pons. I have never been so frightened in my life. At first it seemed to gain but when I looked back there was nothing but a bluish fire bobbing about some distance behind me. It was almost completely dark by this time and I had never been so glad to see the lights of the manor, I can tell you."
"I can well imagine," said Solar Pons drily. "This figure made no sound?"
"No, Mr. Pons. Not that I heard. When I gained the safety of the court yard in front of the house, I looked briefly back and saw a faint blue glow disappearing in the haze of the marsh."
"A terrifying experience, Mr. Grimstone," I put in.
"There is more to follow?" Solar Pons added crisply.
The old man nodded somberly.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Pons. I did not tell my niece of the affair at first, as I did not wish to unduly alarm her. She is highly strung and it would be difficult to get someone to attend to my wants if she decided to leave."
"Indeed," said Solar Pons gravely.
"I thought at first, Mr. Pons, that I had been the victim of some sort of hallucination. The next time I went into Stavely, which was not until a fortnight later, I took the pony and buggy and made sure I returned in day light. I dismounted when I came to the spot near the causeway where I had seen the figure, but, of course, there was nothing to be seen."
Solar Pons replaced the pipe in his mouth and puffed thoughtfully.
"Why do you say 'of course,' Mr. Grimstone?"
"Well, I had hoped that there would be some quite ordinary explanation such as marsh lights, or some strange but natural phenomenon to account for the apparition. But there was nothing to support such a theory."
"So you believe it to be a ghost?"
"I do not know what to believe, Mr. Pons."
"It was a human figure, though?"
"Undoubtedly, though I could see no detail, just the blue phosphorescent fire."
"Pray continue."
"Well, nothing further happened for some weeks and I had hoped that was the end of the matter. I had been out in the opposite direction, to look at a property in which I had some interest, and was unmindful of the time. I was coming in the buggy along the same road but from the southerly direction. It was again almost dusk when for the second time I had the same terrifying experience. Once more this ghastly figure rose from the edge of the marsh. The pony took fright and I had so much to do to control him and what with my work at the reins I quite forgot my terror and when we at last rattled across the causeway and I had a moment to take stock there was no sign of the figure."
"You still told your niece nothing?"
Grimstone shook his head.
"There seemed no point, Mr. Pons. That was November. The next thing that happened was quite near Christmas. It was coming closer to the house all the time, Mr. Pons."
"Pray be more explicit, Mr. Grimstone."
"Well, I had been ill with a cold, and had to curtail my business activities. I had not been to London for over a month and it was but ten days to Christmas. Again, it was dusk and I was sitting in a ground floor room near the window, well wrapped up, my feet toward the fire. The sunset was dying out across the marsh. My niece was preparing tea in the kitchen and I was musing ruminatively as one does at such times. Imagine my horror, Mr. Pons, when I suddenly saw this bluish light hopping across the yard outside the house. It came on with 'quick strides and as I sat half paralyzed this hideous face made of bluish fire was thrust against the window."
Our client licked his lips, he was so visibly moved by the recollection, and I felt a momentary flash of pity for him.
"Hmm. A nasty experience, Mr. Grimstone."
Solar Pons pulled reflectively at the lobe of his right ear. "What did you do?"
"I gave a great cry, Mr. Pons. I jumped up at once but the thing bad made off. It went in a strange, zigzagging motion and the last I saw it was disappearing in the sunset haze toward the marsh. A coal had fallen from the fire about then and was threatening to burn the carpet. My niece came rushing in at my outburst but I gave the fallen coal as my excuse and the matter passed over. She made much of my paleness and agitation but I told her I felt ill again and went back to bed after tea. That was the third appearance of the apparition, Mr. Pons."
"There has been a fourth, then?"
Silas Grimstone nodded, his lined face lightened but not softened by the flickering firelight of our sitting room.
"Before you come to that, Mr. Grimstone, I have one or two further questions. What do you think this thing is?" The old man stubbornly shook his head.
"That is for you to tell me, Mr. Pons," he snapped, with a return to his old manner. "It would appear to be supernatural in origin but why it should choose to haunt me, I have no idea."
"I see."
Solar Pons was silent for a moment, his brooding eyes gazing into the heart of the fire.
"Tell me, Mr. Grimstone, are there any dwellings on the marsh itself from which this creature could have come?"
"You mean a domestic animal, Mr. Pons? That is hardly possible."
"I did not ask that, Mr. Grimstone."
The old man winced at the asperity in my companion's voice.
"The marshes are a strange place, Mr. Pons. They extend for miles over that part of England. Between, there are agricultural areas, firm ground and rich fields. Then you will find a wild expanse of marsh, with here and there islands of solid farmland, which may be reached on foot by the bold. I understand there are some smallholdings on such pockets."
"I see. Tell me, Mr. Grimstone, have any persons been lost in the marsh. Sucked under or drowned, I mean?"
Silas Grimstone stared at Solar Pons with shadowed eyes.