110
PARTISAN REVIEW
On the third floor Lutz went from room to room. At the end of the
hall he peered around the corner into the study, larger than the others
and, because it faced west, not quite as dark; night was still filling up
the walls to the ceiling. It appeared as empty as the others, the
shapeless sofas and chairs like a muddle of clouds waiting for the
moon.
Then Lutz saw movement. An overstuffed chair waddled among
the other furniture, then hunkered down again. Or was someone
crawling in the dark? Then Lutz saw two dogs!
Amazing! Hershel Abbott had dogs!
They sat side by side, and in the gray suggestibility of the room
they appeared quite large. Unusually large, in fact. Remarkably large!
They sat motionless-and not side by side, but nose to nose.
As if on a signal they stood at the same instant, turned from each
other-and one disappeared! There was only one dog, and it had been
looking in a mirror!
If
indeed it was a dog. For in the same moment that it swung away
from the mirror and headed toward the door (and as Lutz jerked back,
spun about, and ran on tiptoes, his arms out from his sides), in that
instant he saw that the thing was larger than any dog he had ever seen.
It
was-great God!-big as a bear!
In the dark of the next room Lutz waited, his heart lunging and
butting against his chest. The floor creaked and the beast glided past
the door and down the hal!.
In the kitchen Ockersly sat at his place, tilting, one hand clamped
to the edge of the table as an anchor. Across from him Cookie was
sewing buttons onto the hunting jacket. "Well?"
Lutz's mouth worked but nothing came out. Then, "There's.... "
He didn't know how to say it. He settled for, "He's not upstairs."
Cookie slung the coat away. "Damn it all!" He jumped up and ran
around the table to Ockersly. "Hey!" Cookie yelled in his face. "After
him!"
Ockersly blinked largely. "Yes, yes, I hear. No need to be fanati–
ca!." He rose stiffly. "Don't worry, he shan't delude me" -and he
plopped back down.
"Go!" Cookie knocked him in the side of the head, sending his
riding cap flying. "Get going!" He shook him, Ockersly's head
wobbling on his skinny neck.
"Stop it," Ockersly said and staggered to his feet. He swayed,
leaning over the table, a look of amazement coming to his face as he
