It was just this way: while I looked
at him so'--regarding me rather unsteadily and
with evident complexity of vision--' he was all
right; but when I looked away, so'--taking a long
pull at the bottle--' he defied me. Then I'd gaze at
him reproachfully, so, and butter wouldn't have
melted in his mouth.'
Doubtless Mr. Dunfer honestly intended the look
that he fixed upon me to be merely reproachful, but
it was singularly fit to arouse the gravest apprehen-
sion in any unarmed person incurring it; and as I had
lost all interest in his pointless and interminable nar-
rative, I rose to go. Before I had fairly risen, he had
again turned to the counter, and with a barely
audible 'so,' had emptied the bottle at a gulp.
Heavens! what a yell! It was like a Titan in his
last, strong agony. Jo. staggered back after emitting
it, as a cannon recoils from its own thunder, and
then dropped into his chair, as if he had been
'knocked in the head' like a beef--his eyes drawn
sidewise toward the wall, with a stare of terror.
Looking in the same direction, I saw that the knot-
hole in the wall had indeed become a human eye--
a full, black eye, that glared into my own with an
entire lack of expression more awful than the most
devilish glitter. I think I must have covered my face
with my hands to shut out the horrible illusion, if
such it was, and Jo.'s little white man-of-all-work
coming into the room broke the spell, and I walked
out of the house with a sort of dazed fear that
delirium tremens might be infectious.
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