The
strange black creature grew and grew till it seemed to fill the
room, and Dick and I to be but shadows floating in the air.
I forced from myself a laugh, that only in part, however, broke the
spell, and inquired of Dick how he had acquired possession of it.
"It came to me," he answered, "one night six months ago. I was
down on my luck at the time. Two of my plays, on which I had built
great hopes, had failed, one on top of the other--you remember
them--and it appeared absurd to think that any manager would ever
look at anything of mine again. Old Walcott had just told me that
he did not consider it right of me under all the circumstances to
hold Lizzie any longer to her engagement, and that I ought to go
away and give her a chance of forgetting me, and I had agreed with
him. I was alone in the world, and heavily in debt. Altogether
things seemed about as hopeless as they could be, and I don't mind
confessing to you now that I had made up my mind to blow out my
brains that very evening. I had loaded my revolver, and it lay
before me on the desk. My hand was toying with it when I heard a
faint scratching at the door.
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