“I thought his comrades must be preparing some surprise for me, some form of armed vengeance, and when six o’clock came I locked myself away in my study, with a brace of pistols on my desk.”

  “My mantelpiece clock struck six. I had been mulling over the hangman’s revelation all day long, but the last chime of the striker reverberated on the bronze without my hearing anything other than a certain purring, whose cause I could not at first ascertain. Then I turned round and saw a big black-and-tan cat. How had it got in? This was impossible to say: my doors and windows were closed. It must have been shut into the room during the day.

  “I hadn’t eaten anything; I rang, and my servant came, but he was unable to enter the room, as I had locked myself in; I went over to the door and opened it. Then I told him about the black-and-tan cat – but we looked for it in vain: it had vanished.

  “I thought no more about it. The evening passed, night fell, day dawned, and the day went by, and six o’clock struck. At the same instant, I heard the same noise behind me, and I saw the same cat.

  “This time, it leapt onto my knees.

  “I have no dislike for cats, and yet this familiarity gave me a disagreeable impression. I chased it off my lap. But no sooner was it on the ground than it again leapt up onto me. I pushed it off, but just as unsuccessfully as the first time. Then I stood up and walked round the room; the cat followed me step by step. This persistence irritated me, and I rang as I had the day before; my servant came in. But the cat fled under the bed, where we looked for it in vain; once it had slipped under the bed, it disappeared.

  “I went out during the evening. I visited two or three friends, then I returned home and let myself in with a master key.

  “As I didn’t have any light, I made my way carefully up the stairs so as to avoid bumping into anything. On arriving at the topmost step, I heard my servant talking to my wife’s chambermaid.

  “On hearing my name uttered, I started paying attention to what he was saying, and then I heard him narrating yesterday’s and today’s entire adventure; but he added, ‘Sir must be going mad. There was no more a black-and-tan cat in the room than there was one in my hand.’

  “These few words alarmed me; either the vision was real, or it was false; if the vision was real, I was in the grip of some supernatural visitation; if the vision was false, if I was imagining I could see something which didn’t exist, as my servant had said, then I was going mad.

  “You can easily guess, my dear friend, with what impatience mingled with fear I waited for six o’clock. The next day, on the pretext that I wanted to tidy some things up, I kept my servant with me; six o’clock struck while he was still there; at the last stroke, I heard the same noise, and I again saw my cat.

  “It was sitting next to me.

  “I sat for a moment without saying anything, hoping my servant would see the animal and would be the first to mention it; but he came and went in my room without appearing to see anything.

  “I seized a moment when, in carrying out the orders I was to give him, the route he would trace would necessarily mean his practically stepping onto the cat.

  “‘Put my handbell onto my table, John,’ I told him.

  “He was at the head of my bed, the handbell was on the mantelpiece; in order to get from the head of my bed to the mantelpiece, he would inevitably tread on the animal.

  “He set off, but just as his foot was about to step onto the cat, the latter leapt up onto my knees.

  “John did not see it, or at least did not seem to see it.

  “I confess that a cold sweat broke out on my brow, and that those words, ‘Sir must be going mad!’, presented themselves with terrible force to my mind.

  “‘John,’ I said to him, ‘can’t you see anything on my knees?’

  “John looked at me. Then, like a man making up his mind, he said:

  “‘Oh yes, sir, I can see a cat.’

  “I breathed again.

  “I took the cat, and told him:

  “‘In that case, John, take it out, if you please.’

  “His hands reached out to mine; I placed the animal in his arms; then, at a sign from me, he went out.

  “I was somewhat reassured; for ten minutes, I looked all around with a last vestige of anxiety, but, seeing no living creature belonging to any animal species whatsoever, I resolved to see what John had done with the cat.

  “So I went out of my room to go and ask him. But just as I was stepping onto the threshold of the living room, I heard a great guffaw coming from my wife’s dressing room. I approached quietly on tiptoe and I heard John’s voice.

  “‘My dear,’ he was saying to the chambermaid, ‘Sir isn’t going mad – no, he already is! His madness, you know, consists in seeing a black-and-tan cat. This evening, he asked me if I couldn’t see this cat on his knees.’

  “‘And what did you reply?’ asked the chambermaid.

  “‘Good Lord! I replied that I certainly could see it,’ said John. ‘Poor old chap, I didn’t want to vex him – so guess what he did.’

  “‘How do you expect me to guess?’

  “‘Well, he took the so-called cat from his knees, he placed it in my arms and he said to me, ‘Take it away! Take it away!’ So I duly took the cat away, and he was happy.’

  “‘But if you did take the cat away, that means the cat really existed?’

  “‘Not at all! The cat only existed in his imagination. But what use would it have been to him if I had told him the truth? He’d have used it as an excuse to throw me out. My word, no, I like it here, and here I’ll stay. He pays me twenty-five pounds a year to see a cat – and see it I will! If he cares to pay me thirty, I’ll see two cats for him.’

  “I did not have the heart to listen to any more. I heaved a sigh and returned to my room.

  “My room was empty…

  “The next day, at six, as usual, my companion showed up at my side, and only disappeared the following morning.

  “What am I to say, my friend?” continued the patient, “For a month, the same apparition presented itself each evening, and I was starting to get used to its presence when, on the thirtieth day after the execution, six o’clock struck without the cat appearing.

  “I thought I’d got rid of it; I could not sleep for joy. All the following morning, I wished the time away, so to speak – I was eager to reach the fateful hour. From five o’clock to six, I couldn’t take my eyes off my clock. I followed the hand as it advanced from minute to minute.

  “Finally, it reached the figure XII; the clock’s mechanism gave an audible shudder; then the striker chimed one, two, three, four, five and finally six times!…

  “At the sixth stroke, my door opened,” said the unhappy judge, “and I saw a kind of bailiff come in, dressed as if he were in the service of the Lord Lieutenant of Scotland.

  “My first thought was that the Lord Lieutenant had sent me a message, and I extended my hand to the stranger. But he did not seem to pay any attention to my gesture; he came to stand behind my chair.

  “I did not need to turn round to see him; I was facing a mirror, and in this mirror I could see him.

  “I stood up and I walked around; he followed a few paces after me. I returned to my table, and I rang.

  “My servant appeared, but he did not see the bailiff any more than he had seen the cat.

  “I sent him away, and remained with this strange personage, whom I had time to examine at my leisure.

  “He was wearing court costume, with his hair in a pouch, his sword at his side, an embroidered tambour jacket and his hat under his arm.

  “At ten o’clock, I went to bed; then, as if to spend the night as comfortably as possible, he in turn sat down in an armchair opposite my bed.

  “I turned my head to the wall, but it was impossible for me to get to sleep. Two or three times I turned over, and two or three times, by the glimmer of my night-light, I saw him in the same armchair.

  “He too did not sleep.

  “Finally, I saw the first rays of daylight slipping into my bedroom through the gaps between the shutters; I turned round one last time to look at my man: he had disappeared, the armchair was empty.

  “Until the evening, I was freed from my vision.

  “In the evening, there was a reception at the home of the Lord High Commissioner. On the pretext of preparing my ceremonial costume, I summoned my servant at five minutes to six, ordering him to close the bolts of the door.

  “He obeyed.

  “On the final stroke of six, I fixed my eyes on the door: the door opened and my bailiff came in.

  “I immediately went over to the door: the door was again closed; the bolts seemed not to have left their clasp. I turned round: the bailiff was standing behind my armchair, and John was coming and going in the room without seeming the least bit bothered by him.

  “It was evident that he didn’t see the man any more than he had seen the animal.

  “I got dressed.

  “Then a strange thing happened: my new and regular guest, attentive to my every need, was helping John in everything he did, without John noticing that he was being helped. Thus, John held my jacket by the collar and the phantom supported it by its tail end; likewise, John presented my trousers by the belt, the phantom held them by the legs.

  “I had never had a more obliging servant.

  “The time for me to go out arrived.

  “Then, instead of following me, the bailiff went ahead, slipped through the bedroom door and went down the stairs, holding his hat under his arm behind John, who opened the carriage door, and, when John had closed it and taken his place on the rear seat, climbed up onto the seat of the coach driver, who moved over to the right to give him room.

  “At the door of the Lord High Commissioner the carriage halted; John opened the door, but the phantom was already at his post behind him. Hardly had I stepped down than the phantom rushed ahead of me, passing through the servants who were crowded round the entrance door and looking to see if I was following.

  “Then I felt an urge to try out on the coach driver himself the experiment I had performed on John.

  “‘Patrick,’ I asked him, ‘who was that man near you, then?’

  “‘Which man, Your Honour?’ asked the coach driver.

  “‘The man who was on your seat.’

  “Patrick rolled his eyes wide with astonishment as he gazed around him.

  “‘Never mind,’ I told him. ‘I must have been mistaken.’

  “And I in turn went inside.

  “The bailiff had stopped on the stairs and was waiting for me.

  “As soon as he saw me continuing on my way, he continued on his, and entered before me as if to announce me in the reception hall; then, once I was in, he went to take up his rightful place in the antechamber.

  “The phantom had been as invisible to everyone else as he had been to John and Patrick.

  “It was then that my fear turned into terror and that I realized that I was well and truly going mad.

  “It was from this evening onwards that people noticed the change that was transpiring within me. Each of them asked me what I was so preoccupied by – you, among others.

  “I found my phantom waiting for me in the antechamber.

  “As on my arrival, he ran ahead of me on my departure, climbed back into his seat, returned home with me, followed me into my bedroom and sat in the armchair where he had sat the previous night.

  “Then I sought to find out whether there was indeed anything real and above all palpable in this apparition. I pulled myself together with an effort and walked slowly backwards to sit in the armchair.

  “I could feel nothing, but in the mirror I saw him standing behind me.

  “As on the night before, I went to sleep, but only at one o’clock in the morning. As soon as I was in my bed, I saw him in my armchair.

  “The next morning he disappeared.

  “The vision lasted a month.

  “After a month, the phantom broke with custom and failed to turn up one day.

  “This time I did not believe, as I had the first time, that he had totally disappeared, but thought he would undergo some terrible modification, and instead of enjoying my solitude I awaited the next day fearfully.

  “The next day, on the last stroke of six, I heard a soft rustle in the curtains around my bed, and, just where they intersected at the corner next to the wall, I suddenly saw a skeleton.

  “This time, my friend, as you will understand, it was, if I may put it like this, the living image of death.

  “The skeleton stood there, immobile, gazing at me with empty eyes.

  “I rose to my feet and walked several times round my room; its head followed me at every turn. Its eyes did not abandon me for an instant; its body remained immobile.

  “That night, I couldn’t pluck up the courage to go to bed. I slept, or rather I stayed with my eyes open in the armchair where the phantom usually sat – I had started to miss him.

  “When day came, the skeleton disappeared.

  “I ordered John to change the place of my bed and to close the curtains.

  “On the last stroke of six, I heard the same dry rustle; I saw the curtains moving; then I saw the ends of two bony hands parting the curtains round my bed, and once the curtains had opened the skeleton assumed in the opening the place he had occupied the previous night.

  “This time, I could pluck up the courage to go to bed.

  “Its head, which, just as the night before, had followed my every move, then bowed to gaze down at me; its eyes which, just as the night before, had not let me out of their sight for an instant, then fixed themselves upon me.

  “You will guess what kind of a night I passed!” continued the judge.

  “Well, my dear Doctor, I have since passed twenty similar nights. Now you know what the matter is with me; will you still undertake to cure me?”

  “I will at least try,” replied the doctor.

  “How? Do tell me.”

  “I am convinced that the phantom you are seeing exists only in your imagination.”

  “What difference does it make to me whether it exists or doesn’t exist, if I can see it?”

  “Do you want me to try and see it?”

  “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

  “When?”

  “As soon as possible. Tomorrow.”

  “Very well, tomorrow… Until then, keep your spirits up!”

  The patient smiled sadly.

  The following day, at seven in the morning, the doctor entered his friend’s bedroom.

  “Well?” he asked him. “The skeleton?”

  “It’s just disappeared,” replied the judge in a feeble voice.

  “Very well, we’ll make arrangements to ensure that, yes, he doesn’t come back this evening.”

  “Please do.”

  “Firstly, you say he comes in on the last chime of six?”

  “Without fail.”

  “Let’s begin by stopping the clock.”

  And he halted the pendulum.

  “What are you trying to do?”

  “I want to take away your ability to measure time.”

  “I see.”

  “Now, we are going to keep the shutters closed and pull the window curtains to.”

  “Why?”

  “With the same aim – so that you can’t in any way register the course of the day.”

  “Do so.”

  The shutters were closed, the curtains drawn; candles were lit.

  “Have a lunch and a dinner prepared, John,” said the doctor. “We don’t want to be served at fixed times, but only when I call.”

  “Do you hear, John?” said the patient.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then give us cards, dice and dominoes and leave us.”

  The objects requested were brought in by John, who then retired.

  The doctor began by distracting the patient as well as he could, sometimes chatting, sometimes playing a game with him; then, when he got hungry, he rang.

  John, who already knew why he had rung, brought in lunch.

  After lunch, the game began, and was interrupted by the doctor giving another ring on the bell.

  John brought in dinner.

  They ate, they drank, they had a coffee and they settled back down to their game. The day goes by slowly when it’s spent by just two people in this way. The doctor thought he had measured the time in his mind, and that the fateful hour must have gone by.

  “Well,” he said, rising to his feet, “we’ve won!”

  “What do you mean, we’ve won?” asked the patient.

  “But of course – it must be at least eight or nine o’clock, and the skeleton hasn’t come.”

  “Look at your watch, Doctor, since it’s the only one that’s going in the whole house – and if the hour has passed, then, upon my word, I too will say that we’ve won!”

  The doctor looked at his watch, but did not say anything.

  “You were wrong, weren’t you, Doctor?” said the patient. “It’s six o’clock precisely.”

  “Yes – well?”

  “Well… here comes the skeleton.”

  And the patient fell back in his chair, heaving a deep sigh.

  The doctor looked around.

  “So where can you see it?” he asked.

  “At its usual place, between my bed and the wall, looking through the curtains.”

  The doctor got up, pulled the bed back, walked round to the wall and went and took up the place between the curtains which the skeleton supposedly occupied.

  “And now,” he said, “can you still see it?”

  “I can’t see its lower body any more, since yours is hiding it, but I can see its skull.”

  “Where?”

  “Above your right shoulder. It’s just as if you had two heads, the one living and the other dead.”