If he could get up them and across
the upper hall, he could come down the front stairs and catch the
intruder.
It took Val perhaps two minutes to reach the head of the front stairs,
and each minute seemed a half-hour in length. From below he could hear a
regular _pad, pad_, as if from stocking feet on the stone floor. He drew
a deep breath and started down.
When he reached the landing he looked over the rail. Upright before the
fireplace was a dim white blur. As he watched, it moved forward. There
was something uncanny about that almost noiseless movement.
The blur became a thin figure clad in baggy white breeches and loose
shirt. Below the knees the legs seemed to fade into the darkness of the
hall and there was something strange about the outlines of the head.
Again the thing resumed its padding and Val saw now that it was pacing
the hall in a regular pattern. Which suggested that it was human and was
there with a very definite purpose.
He edged farther down the stairs.
"And just what are you doing?"
If his voice quavered upon the last word, it was hardly his fault. For
when the thing turned, Val saw--
It had no face!
With a startled cry he lunged forward, clutching at the banister to
steady his blundering descent. The thing backed away; already it was
fading into the darkness beside the stairs. As Val's feet touched the
floor of the hall he caught his last glimpse of it, a thin white patch
against the solid paneling of the stairway's broad side.
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