The Thing on the Doorstep | Page 4

people from the college. Asenath
had bought the old Crowninshield place in the country at the end of
High Street, and they proposed to settle there after a short trip to
Innsmouth, whence three servants and some books and household
goods were to be brought. It was probably not so much consideration
for Edward and his father as a personal wish to be near the college, its
library, and its crowd of "sophisticates," that made Asenath settle in
Arkham instead of returning permanently home.
When Edward called on me after the honeymoon I thought he looked
slightly changed. Asenath had made him get rid of the undeveloped
moustache, but there was more than that. He looked soberer and more
thoughtful, his habitual pout of childish rebelliousness being exchanged
for a look almost of genuine sadness. I was puzzled to decide whether I
liked or disliked the change. Certainly he seemed for the moment more
normally adult than ever before. Perhaps the marriage was a good thing
- might not the change of dependence form a start toward actual
neutralisaton, leading ultimately to responsible independence? He came
alone, for Asenath was very busy. She had brought a vast store of
books and apparatus from Innsmouth (Derby shuddered as he spoke the
name), and was finishing the restoration of the Crowninshield house
and grounds.

Her home - in that town - was a rather disgusting place, but certain
objects in it had taught him some surprising things. He was progressing
fast in esoteric lore now that he had Asenath's guidance. Some of the
experiments she proposed were very daring and radical - he did not feel
at liberty to describe them - but he had confidence in her powers and
intentions. The three servants were very queer - an incredibly aged
couple who had been with old Ephraim and referred occasionally to
him and to Asenath's dead mother in a cryptic way, and a swarthy
young wench who had marked anomalies of feature and seemed to
exude a perpetual odour of fish.
III
For the next two years I saw less and less of Derby. A fortnight would
sometimes slip by without the familiar three-and-two strokes at the
front door; and when he did call - or when, as happened with increasing
infrequency, I called on him - he was very little disposed to converse
on vital topics. He had become secretive about those occult studies
which he used to describe and discuss so minutely, and preferred not to
talk of his wife. She had aged tremendously since her marriage, till now
- oddly enough - she seemed the elder of the two. Her face held the
most concentratedly determined expression I had ever seen, and her
whole aspect seemed to gain a vague, unplaceable repulsiveness. My
wife and son noticed it as much as I, and we all ceased gradually to call
on her - for which, Edward admitted in one of his boyishly tactless
moments, she was unmitigatedly grateful. Occasionally the Derbys
would go on long trips - ostensibly to Europe, though Edward
sometimes hinted at obscurer destinations.
It was after the first year that people began talking about the change in
Edward Derby. It was very casual talk, for the change was purely
psychological; but it brought up some interesting points. Now and then,
it seemed Edward was observed to wear an expression and to do things
wholly incompatible with his usual flabby nature. For example -
although in the old days he could not drive a car, he was now seen
occasionally to dash into or out of the old Crowninshield driveway with
Asenath's powerful Packard, handling it like a master, and meeting

traffic entanglements with a skill and determination utterly alien to his
accustomed nature. In such cases he seemed always to be just back
from some trip or just starting on one - what sort of trip, no one could
guess, although he mostly favoured the Innsmouth road.
Oddly, the metamorphosis did not seem altogether pleasing. People
said he looked too much like his wife, or like old Ephraim Waite
himself, in these moments - or perhaps these moments seemed
unnatural because they were so rare. Sometimes, hours after starting
out in this way, he would return listlessly sprawled on the rear seat of
the car while an obviously hired chauffeur or mechanic drove. Also, his
preponderant aspect on the streets during his decreasing round of social
contacts (including, I may say, his calls on me) was the old-time
indecisive one - its irresponsible childishness even more marked than in
the past. While Asenath's face aged, Edward - aside from those
exceptional occasions - actually relaxed into a kind of exaggerated
immaturity, save when a trace of the new sadness or understanding
would flash across it. It was