In the Fog | Page 6

and distance from the side-walk that this light must come
from the door of a house set back from the street, and I determined to
approach it and ask the young man to tell me where I was. But in
fumbling with the lock of the gate I instinctively bent my head, and
when I raised it again the door had partly closed, leaving only a narrow
shaft of light. Whether the young man had re-entered the house, or had
left it I could not tell, but I hastened to open the gate, and as I stepped
forward I found myself upon an asphalt walk. At the same instant there

was the sound of quick steps upon the path, and some one rushed past
me. I called to him, but he made no reply, and I heard the gate click and
the footsteps hurrying away upon the sidewalk.
"Under other circumstances the young man's rudeness, and his
recklessness in dashing so hurriedly through the mist, would have
struck me as peculiar, but everything was so distorted by the fog that at
the moment I did not consider it. The door was still as he had left it,
partly open. I went up the path, and, after much fumbling, found the
knob of the door-bell and gave it a sharp pull. The bell answered me
from a great depth and distance, but no movement followed from inside
the house, and although I pulled the bell again and again I could hear
nothing save the dripping of the mist about me. I was anxious to be on
my way, but unless I knew where I was going there was little chance of
my making any speed, and I was determined that until I learned my
bearings I would not venture back into the fog. So I pushed the door
open and stepped into the house.
"I found myself in a long and narrow hall, upon which doors opened
from either side. At the end of the hall was a staircase with a balustrade
which ended in a sweeping curve. The balustrade was covered with
heavy Persian rugs, and the walls of the hall were also hung with them.
The door on my left was closed, but the one nearer me on the right was
open, and as I stepped opposite to it I saw that it was a sort of reception
or waiting-room, and that it was empty. The door below it was also
open, and with the idea that I would surely find some one there, I
walked on up the hall. I was in evening dress, and I felt I did not look
like a burglar, so I had no great fear that, should I encounter one of the
inmates of the house, he would shoot me on sight. The second door in
the hall opened into a dining-room. This was also empty. One person
had been dining at the table, but the cloth had not been cleared away,
and a nickering candle showed half-filled wineglasses and the ashes of
cigarettes. The greater part of the room was in complete darkness.
"By this time I had grown conscious of the fact that I was wandering
about in a strange house, and that, apparently, I was alone in it. The
silence of the place began to try my nerves, and in a sudden,

unexplainable panic I started for the open street. But as I turned, I saw a
man sitting on a bench, which the curve of the balustrade had hidden
from me. His eyes were shut, and he was sleeping soundly.
"The moment before I had been bewildered because I could see no one,
but at sight of this man I was much more bewildered.
"He was a very large man, a giant in height, with long yellow hair
which hung below his shoulders. He was dressed in a red silk shirt that
was belted at the waist and hung outside black velvet trousers which, in
turn, were stuffed into high black boots. I recognized the costume at
once as that of a Russian servant, but what a Russian servant in his
native livery could be doing in a private house in Knightsbridge was
incomprehensible.
"I advanced and touched the man on the shoulder, and after an effort he
awoke, and, on seeing me, sprang to his feet and began bowing rapidly
and making deprecatory gestures. I had picked up enough Russian in
Petersburg to make out that the man was apologizing for having fallen
asleep, and I also was able to explain to him that I desired to see his
master.
"He nodded vigorously, and said, 'Will the Excellency come this way?
The Princess is here.'
"I distinctly made out the word 'princess,' and I was a good deal
embarrassed. I