“Well, the worst consequence of my doing that would be that everyone at Blackwood Manor would think something terrible had happened to me. Indeed, they might be looking for me right now. That was more than a good possibility. They might be out there in a pirogue with flashlights and lanterns.

“Didn’t that argue for me staying where I was?

“I set the plate of light down on the desk, and I went out the front door, down the steps, and crossed the clearing before the Hermitage so that I stood near to the bank.

“It was quite amazing how the few candles illuminated the windows of the Hermitage. Indeed, nobody coming close in a pirogue could have missed it. Maybe it was best to sit tight.

“But if so, why did it seem such a cowardly decision? Why did I feel I should get back to reassure those who loved me that I was all right?

“I checked in the pirogue. No, I did not have a flashlight or lantern. Big surprise.

“Then I peered into the swamp. I tried to see what lay before me. I tried to make out the small channel by which I had come to this point. I could see nothing in the blackness.

“I walked around the island as best I could. Why precisely I wasn’t sure. Maybe I wanted to feel that I was doing something, and I listened, listened very carefully in case anyone out there was calling my name.

“Of course I heard the countless night birds and low gurgling noises coming from the water, but there was no human voice.

“I came back to the point where I’d tied up the pirogue and there stood Goblin, my perfect mirror image, watching me intently, his figure apparently illuminated, just as if it was solid, by the candlelight that came from the house.

“What a marvelous spectacle, it seemed to me, that could create such an illusion, and I racked my brain to remember if he had ever done something so spectacular before.

“I had seen him in shadows, in darkness and in light, of course, but never had I seen light falling on him, outlining his shoulder and his face. He made a sudden gesture with his right hand, beckoning me to come closer to where he stood.

“ ‘What do you want?’ I asked. ‘You don’t mean to tell me you’re going to be useful.’ I moved towards him and he reached out with his left arm to guide me in a turn. Then he pointed out into the swamp.