Mysteries - Knut Hamsun [56]
Actually, it was a dull adventure, it shouldn’t take very long to tell. He was sitting in his room in a little town—it was not in Norway, never mind where it was; in short, he was sitting in his room one mild fall evening. It was eight years ago, in 1883. He was sitting with his back to the door reading a book.
“Were you using a lamp?”
“Yes; it was pitch-dark outside. I was reading. Then someone is walking outside, I can distinctly hear footsteps on the stairs; I can also hear someone knocking on my door. ‘Come in!’ No one comes. I open the door—nobody outside. There isn’t a sign of anybody outside. I ring for the maid. Had anyone climbed the stairs? No, nobody had climbed the stairs. ‘Very well, good night!’ The maid leaves.
“I resume my reading. Then I feel a puff of air, a brush as of someone’s breath, and I hear a whisper, ‘Come!’ I look around—no one there. I go on reading, but get annoyed and say, ‘What the hell!’ The same moment I notice, next to me, a pale little man with a red beard and dry, stiff, bristly hair; the man is standing to my left. He winks at me and I wink back; we had never seen each other before, but we winked at one another. I close the book with my right hand, and the man moves toward the door and disappears; I follow him with my eyes and see him disappearing. I rise and walk up to the door, and again I hear the whisper, ‘Come!’ All right, I get into my coat, snap my galoshes on and step out. Then I thought, You should light a cigar, and I turn back to my room and light a cigar. I also pocket some cigars. God knows why, but I did, and went out again.
“It was pitch-black and I couldn’t see a thing, but I felt that the little man was beside me. Groping to get hold of him, I made myself obstinate and decided not to budge unless he gave me clearer instructions. But he was nowhere to be found. I even tried to wink at him here and there in the dark, but to no avail. ‘Never mind!’ I said, ‘I’m not going for your sake, I go for my own sake, I’m taking a walk; please note that I’m simply going for a stroll.’ I spoke in a loud voice so he would hear me. I walked for several hours and was already in the countryside, inside a forest; I felt branches and leaves wet with dew slapping my face. ‘Well!’ I said at last, pulling out my watch as if to look at it, ‘well, I’m going back home!’ But I didn’t go back home, I just couldn’t turn around, something was still driving me on. Anyway, I said to myself, the weather is so wonderful, you can keep this up for a night or two, you have plenty of time! I said this, though I was tired and thoroughly wet with dew. I lighted a fresh cigar; the little man was still with me, I could feel him blowing on me. And I walked on and on, in every possible direction, but never back toward town. My feet were beginning to ache, I was wet with dew up to my knees, and my face was smarting from being grazed by the wet branches. It may seem somewhat strange of me to be walking around here at this hour, I said to myself, but it’s a habit of mine, a custom from my childhood, to hunt up the biggest forests there are and walk in them at night. And I forged ahead with clenched teeth. Then the tower clock in town strikes twelve—one, two, three, four, up to twelve; I count the strokes. That familiar sound braced me up considerably, though I was annoyed that we hadn’t yet gotten farther away from town after all our tramping around. Well, the tower clock struck the hour, and just as the twelfth stroke fell, the little man again stands vividly before me, looking at me and laughing. I won’t forget it as long as I live, he was so vividly present; he had two front teeth missing and was holding his arms behind his back....”
“But how could you see him in the dark?”
“He was luminous. He shone with a strange light that seemed to be behind him, radiating from his back and making him transparent; even his clothes became as clear as day, his trousers were worn and much too short. I saw all this in a second. The sight struck me with amazement, and I instinctively closed my eyes