No one sat in the chairs; no one
stood on the mat before the fire; there was no sign even that a patient
was anywhere close against the wall, examining the Bocklin
reproductions--as patients so often did when they thought they were
alone--and therefore rather difficult to see from the spy-hole.
Ordinarily speaking, there was no one in the room. It was undeniable.
Yet Dr. Silence was quite well aware that a human being _was_ in the
room. His psychic apparatus never failed in letting him know the
proximity of an incarnate or discarnate being. Even in the dark he could
tell that. And he now knew positively that his patient--the patient who
had alarmed Barker, and had then tripped down the corridor with that
dancing footstep--was somewhere concealed within the four walls
commanded by his spy-hole. He also realised--and this was most
unusual--that this individual whom he desired to watch knew that he was
being watched. And, further, that the stranger himself was also
watching! In fact, that it was he, the doctor, who was being
observed--and by an observer as keen and trained as himself.
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