I picked myself up and found that all the
books from what I called my 'language shelf' were strewn across the
floor. The room, meanwhile, as a minute's search revealed, was quite
empty. I looked in every corner and behind every stick of furniture, and
a student's bedroom on a top floor, costing twelve shillings a week, did
not hold many available hiding-places, as you may imagine.
"The crash, however, was explained. Some very practical and physical
force had thrown the books from their resting-place. That, at least, was
beyond all doubt. And as I replaced them on the shelf and noted that not
one was missing, I busied myself mentally with the sore problem of how
the agent of this little practical joke had gained access to my room,
and then escaped again. _For my door was locked and bolted._
"Smith's odd question as to whether I was disturbed in the night, and
his warning injunction to let him know at once if such were the case,
now of course returned to affect me as I stood there in the early
morning, cold and shivering on the carpet; but I realised at the same
moment how impossible it would be for me to admit that a more than
usually vivid nightmare could have any connection with himself.
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