Jeremy Johns appeared and said that Mr Hyde had returned. He was in the hall and had asked to speak to Strange on a matter of urgency.

“Oh, what does the fellow want this time?” muttered Strange.

Mr Hyde entered hurriedly, his face grey with anxiety.

Suddenly Henry exclaimed, “What in the world does that fellow think he is doing? He is neither in the room nor out of it!” One of Henry’s several sources of vexation at Ashfair was the servants who rarely behaved with that degree of ceremony that Henry considered proper for members of such an important household. On this occasion Jeremy Johns had begun to leave the room but had only got as far as the doorway, where, half-hidden by the door, he and another servant were conducting a conversation in urgent whispers.

Strange glanced at the doorway, sighed and said, “Henry, it really does not matter. Mr Hyde, I …”

Meanwhile Mr Hyde, whose agitation appeared to have been increased by this delay, burst out, “An hour ago I saw Mrs Strange again upon the Welsh hills!”

Henry gave a start and looked at Strange.

Strange gave Mr Hyde a very cool look and said, “It is nothing, Henry. Really it is nothing.”

Mr Hyde flinched a little at this, but there was a sort of stubbornness in him that helped him bear it. “It was upon Castle Idris and just as before, Mrs Strange was walking away from me and I did not see her face. I tried to follow her and catch up with her, but, just as before, I lost sight of her. I know that the last time it was accounted no more than a delusion – a phantom made by my own brain out of the snow and wind – but today is clear and calm and I know that I saw Mrs Strange – as clearly, sir, as I now see you.”

“The last time?” said Henry in confusion.

Strange, somewhat impatiently, began to thank Mr Hyde for his great good nature in bringing them this … (He was not quite able to find the word he wanted.) “But as I know Mrs Strange to be safe within my own house, I dare say you will not be surprized, if I …”

Jeremy came back into the room rather suddenly. He went immediately to Strange and bent and whispered in his ear.

“Well, speak, man! Tell us what is the matter!” said Henry.

Jeremy looked rather doubtfully at Strange, but Strange said nothing. He covered his mouth with his hand and his eyes went this way and that, as if he were suddenly taken up with some new, and not very pleasant, idea.

Jeremy said, “Mrs Strange is no longer in the house, sir. We do not know where she is.”

Henry was questioning Mr Hyde about what he had seen on the hills and barely giving him time to answer one question before asking another. Jeremy Johns was frowning at them both. Strange, meanwhile, sat silently, staring in front of him. Suddenly he stood up and went rapidly out of the room.