"Has Colonel Menendez told
you anything to account for it?"
"Nothing," I said, "He has left us strangely in the dark. But you say
he went abroad on a second and more recent occasion?"
"Yes, not much more than a month ago. And after that, somehow or other,
matters seemed to come to a head. I confess I became horribly
frightened, but to have left would have seemed like desertion, and
Madame de Staemer has been so good to me."
"Did you actually witness any of the episodes which took place about a
month ago?"
Val Beverley shook her head.
"I never saw anything really definite," she replied.
"Yet, evidently you either saw or heard something which alarmed you."
"Yes, that is true, but it is so difficult to explain."
"Could you try to explain?"
"I will try if you wish, for really I am longing to talk to someone
about it. For instance, on several occasions I have heard footsteps in
the corridor outside my room."
"At night?"
"Yes, at night."
"Strange footsteps?"
She nodded.
"That is the uncanny part of it. You know how familiar one grows with
the footsteps of persons living in the same house? Well, these
footsteps were quite unfamiliar to me.
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