When I arrived at
the appointed time I found the door of the house closed. I was
obliged to ring several times before an old servant opened the door.
She seemed surprised that it had been locked. She said that the
door was always unlatched, and that Mr. Siders himself must have
closed it, contrary to all custom, for she had not done it, and
there was no one else in the house but the two of them. Siders
was waiting for me at the top of the stairs, calling down a noisy
welcome.
"When I asked him finally what it was so important that he wanted
to say to me, he evaded me and continued to chatter on about
commonplace things. Finally I insisted upon knowing why he had
wanted me to come, and he replied that the reason for it had already
been fulfilled, that he had nothing more to say, and that I could go
as soon as I wanted to. He appeared quite calm, but he must have
been very nervous. For as I stood by the desk, telling him what I
thought of his actions, he moved his hand hastily among the papers
there and upset the ink stand. I jumped back, but not before I had
received several large spots of ink on my trousers. He was profuse
in his apologies for the accident, and tried to take out the spots
with blotting paper. Then at last, when I insisted upon going, he
looked out to see whether there was still a light on the stairs, and
led me down to the door himself, standing there for some time
looking after me.
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