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.

“Mr Strange!” called Mr Hyde. “Where are you going?”

“Strange!” cried Henry.

As nothing could be done or decided without him, they had no choice but to follow him. Strange mounted the stairs to his library on the first floor and went immediately to the great silver dish that stood upon one of the tables.

“Bring water,” he said to Jeremy Johns.

Jeremy Johns fetched a jug of water and filled the dish.

Strange spoke a single word and the room seemed to grow twilit and shadowy. In the same moment the water in the dish darkened and became slightly opaque.

The lessening of the light terrified Henry.