The House Opposite

erings of many summers, were overcome by it, and everyone who could, fled from the city. On the particular August day when this story begins, the temperature had been even more unbearable th

er fatigue; but one glance at my stuffy little bedroom discouraged me. Dragging a divan before t

to try my luck on the roof. Arming myself with a rug and a pipe, I stole softly upstairs. It was a beautiful starlight

windows directly opposite, and on a level with me, light filtered dimly through lowered shades, and I wondered what possible motive people could have for shutting out the little air there was on such a

oom two floors higher up. I was too far below to be able to look into this room, but I caught a suggestion of sum

me unseen person who was presumably on the floor, and then dragged across the window. A dark object, which I took to be a human head, moved up and down among the palms, one o

swiftly away from the window supporting on his shoulder a fair-haired woman. Soon afterwards the lights

unk, proceeded to beat the woman and been partially sobered by her cry; or was the woman subject to hysteria, or even insane? I remembered that the apartments were what are commonly known as double-deckers. That is to say: each one contained two floors, connected by a private staircase-the living r

now noticed for the first time signs of life in the lower apartment which I first mentioned;

mised. It was dismantled for the summer, and the pictures and furniture were hidden under brown holland. A man leant against the window with his head bowed down, in an attitude

r, disappeared under sofas, and finally moved even the heavy pieces of furniture from their places. However valuable t

caught sight of her, the room was already ablaze with light and she was standing by the window, gazing out into the darkness. At last, as if overcome by her emotions, she threw up her hands in a gesture o

ure, and disappeared into the back of the room. I waited for some time hoping to see her again, but as she remained invisible and nothing further happened, and the approaching dawn held out hop