together, Colonel?" he said; his knees were trembling under him. I pushed
him against the corner of the wall, and put the light into his hands.
"Stand fast till I come back; shake yourself together, man; let nothing
pass you," I said. The voice was within two or three feet of us; of that
there could be no doubt.

I went myself to the other side of the wall, keeping close to it. The
light shook in Bagley's hand, but, tremulous though it was, shone out
through the vacant door, one oblong block of light marking all the
crumbling corners and hanging masses of foliage. Was that something dark
huddled in a heap by the side of it? I pushed forward across the light in
the door-way, and fell upon it with my hands; but it was only a
juniper-bush growing close against the wall. Meanwhile, the sight of my
figure crossing the door-way had brought Bagley's nervous excitement to a
height: he flew at me, gripping my shoulder. "I've got him, Colonel!
I've got him!" he cried, with a voice of sudden exultation. He thought it
was a man, and was at once relieved. But at that moment the voice burst
forth again between us, at our feet,--more close to us than any separate
being could be. He dropped off from me, and fell against the wall, his
jaw dropping as if he were dying. I suppose, at the same moment, he saw
that it was me whom he had clutched. I, for my part, had scarcely more
command of myself. I snatched the light out of his hand, and flashed it
all about me wildly. Nothing,--the juniper-bush which I thought I had
never seen before, the heavy growth of the glistening ivy, the brambles
waving. It was close to my ears now, crying, crying, pleading as if for
life. Either I heard the same words Roland had heard, or else, in my
excitement, his imagination got possession of mine. The voice went on,
growing into distinct articulation, but wavering about, now from one
point, now from another, as if the owner of it were moving slowly back
and forward. "Mother! mother!" and then an outburst of wailing. As my