softly, and purring like a roll of littlemuffled drums. It behaved precisely as though it were rubbing againstthe ankles of some one who remained invisible. A thrill ran down thedoctor's spine as he stood and stared. His experiment was growinginteresting at last.
He called the collie's attention to his friend's performance to seewhether he too was aware of anything standing there upon the carpet, andthe dog's behaviour was significant and corroborative. He came as far ashis master's knees and then stopped dead, refusing to investigateclosely. In vain Dr. Silence urged him; he wagged his tail, whined alittle, and stood in a half-crouching attitude, staring alternately atthe cat and at his master's face. He was, apparently, both puzzled andalarmed, and the whine went deeper and deeper down into his throat tillit changed into an ugly snarl of awakening anger.
Then the doctor called to him in a tone of command he had never known tobe disregarded; but still the dog, though springing up in response,declined to move nearer. He made tentative motions, pranced a littlelike a dog about to take to water, pretended to bark, and ran to and froon the carpet. So far there was no actual fear in his manner, but he wasuneasy and anxious, and nothing would induce him to go within touchingdistance of the walking cat. Once he made a complete circuit, but alwayscarefully out of reach; and in the end he returned to his master's legsand rubbed vigorously against him. Flame did not like the performance atall: that much was quite clear.
For several minutes John Silence watched the performance of the cat withprofound attention and without interfering. Then he called to the animalby name.
"Smoke, you mysterious beastie, what in the world are you about?" hesaid, in a coaxing tone.
The cat looked up at him for a moment, smiling in its ecstasy, blinkingits eyes, but too happy to pause. He spoke to it again. He called to itseveral times, and each time it turned upon him its blazing eyes, drunkwith inner delight, opening and shutting its lips, its body large andrigid with excitement. Yet it never for one instant paused in its shortjourneys to and fro.
He noted exactly what it did: it walked, he saw, the same number ofpaces each time, some six or seven steps, and then it turned sharply andretraced them. By the pattern of the great roses in the carpet hemeasured it. It kept to the same direction and the same line. It behavedprecisely as though it were rubbing against something solid.Undoubtedly, there was something standing there on that strip of carpet,something invisible to the doctor, something that alarmed the dog, yetcaused the cat unspeakable pleasure.
"Smokie!" he called again, "Smokie, you black mystery, what is itexcites you so?"
Again the cat looked up at him for a brief second, and then continuedits sentry-walk, blissfully happy, intensely preoccupied. And, for aninstant, as he watched it, the doctor was aware that a faint uneasinessstirred in the depths of his own being, focusing itself for the momentupon this curious behaviour of the uncanny creature before him.
There rose in him quite a new realisation of the mystery connected withthe whole feline tribe, but especially with that common member of it,the domestic cat--their hidden lives, their strange aloofness, theirincalculable subtlety. How utterly remote from anything that humanbeings understood lay the sources of their elusive activities. As hewatched the indescribable bearing of the little creature mincing alongthe strip of carpet under his eyes, coquetting with the powers ofdarkness, welcoming, maybe, some fearsome visitor, there stirred in hisheart a feeling strangely akin to awe. Its indifference to human kind,its serene superiority to the obvious, struck him forcibly with freshmeaning; so remote, so inaccessible seemed the secret purposes of itsreal life, so alien to the blundering honesty of other animals. Itsabsolute poise of bearing brought into his mind the opium-eater's wordsthat "no dignity is perfect which does not at some point ally itselfwith the mysterious"; and he became suddenly aware that the presence ofthe dog in this foggy, haunted room on the top of Putney Hill wasuncommonly welcome to him. He was glad to feel that Flame's dependablepersonality was with him. The savage growling at his heels was apleasant sound. He was glad to hear it. That marching cat made himuneasy.
Finding that Smoke paid no further attention to his words, the doctordecided upon action. Would it rub against his leg, too? He would take itby surprise and see.
He stepped quickly forward and placed himself upon the exact strip ofcarpet where it walked.
But no cat is ever taken by surprise! The moment he occupied the spaceof the Intruder, setting his feet on the woven roses midway in the lineof travel, Smoke suddenly stopped purring and sat down. If lifted up itsface with the most innocent stare imaginable of its green eyes. He couldhave sworn it laughed. It was a perfect child again. In a single secondit had resumed its simple, domestic manner; and it gazed at him in sucha way that he almost felt Smoke was the normal being, and _his_ was theeccentric behaviour that was being watched. It was consummate, themanner in which it brought about this change so easily and so quickly.
"Superb little actor!" he laughed in spite of himself, and stooped tostroke the shining black back. But, in a flash, as he touched its fur,the cat turned and spat at him viciously, striking at his hand with onepaw. Then, with a hurried scutter of feet, it shot like a shadow acrossthe floor and a moment later was calmly sitting over by thewindow-curtains washing its face as though nothing interested it in thewhole world but the cleanness of its cheeks and whiskers.
John Silence straightened himself up and drew a long breath. He realisedthat the performance was temporarily at an end. The collie, meanwhile,who had watched the whole proceeding with marked disapproval, had nowlain down again upon the mat by the fire, no longer growling. It seemedto the doctor just as though something that had entered the room whilehe slept, alarming the dog, yet bringing happiness to the cat, had nowgone out again, leaving all as it was before. Whatever it was thatexcited its blissful attentions had retreated for the moment.
He realised this intuitively. Smoke evidently realised it, too, forpresently he deigned to march back to the fireplace and jump upon hismaster's knees. Dr. Silence, patient and determined, settled down oncemore to his book. The animals soon slept; the fire blazed cheerfully;and the cold fog from outside poured into the room through everyavailable chink and crannie.
For a long time silence and peace reigned in the room and Dr. Silenceavailed himself of the quietness to make careful notes of what hadhappened. He entered for future use in other cases an exhaustiveanalysis of what he had observed, especially with regard to the effectupon the two animals. It is impossible here, nor would it beintelligible to the reader unversed in the knowledge of the region knownto a scientifically trained psychic like Dr. Silence, to detail theseobservations. But to him it was clear, up to a certain point--for therest he must still wait and watch. So far, at least, he realised thatwhile he slept in the chair--that is, while his will was dormant--theroom had suffered intrusion from what he recognised as an intenselyactive Force, and might later be forced to acknowledge as something morethan merely a blind force, namely, a distinct personality.
So far it had affected himself scarcely at all, but had acted directlyupon the simpler organisms of the animals. It stimulated keenly thecentres of the cat's psychic being, inducing a state of instanthappiness (intensifying its consciousness probably in the same way adrug or stimulant intensifies that of a human being); whereas it alarmedthe less sensitive dog, causing it to feel a vague apprehension anddistress.
His own sudden action and exhibition of energy had served to disperse ittemporarily, yet he felt convinced--the indications were not lackingeven while he sat there making notes--that it still remained near tohim, conditionally if not spatially, and was, as it were, gatheringforce for a second attack.
And, further, he intuitively understood that the relations between thetwo animals had undergone a subtle change: that the cat had becomeimmeasurably superior, confident, sure of itself in its own peculiarregion, whereas Flame had been weakened by an attack he could notcomprehend and knew not how to reply to. Though not yet afraid, he wasdefiant--ready to act agai
nst a fear that he felt to be approaching. Hewas no longer fatherly and protective towards the cat. Smoke held thekey to the situation; and both he and the cat knew it.
Thus, as the minutes passed, John Silence sat and waited, keenly on thealert, wondering how soon the attack would be renewed, and at what pointit would be diverted from the animals and directed upon himself.
The book lay on the floor beside him, his notes were complete. With onehand on the cat's fur, and the dog's front paws resting against hisfeet, the three of them dozed comfortably before the hot fire while thenight wore on and the silence deepened towards midnight.
It was well after one o'clock in the morning when Dr. Silence turned thelamp out and lighted the candle preparatory to going up to bed. ThenSmoke suddenly woke with a loud sharp purr and sat up. It neitherstretched, washed nor turned: it listened. And the doctor, watching it,realised that a certain indefinable