Somebody or something had passed from the Black Wood and back again to this spot in the night.
Dominey, curiously excited by his discovery, examined the footmarks eagerly, then followed them to the corner of the wood.

Here and there they puzzled him.

They were neither like human footsteps nor the track of any known animal.

At the edge of the wood they seemed to vanish into the heart of a great mass of brambles, from which here and there the snow had been shaken off.

There was no sign of any pathway; if ever there had been one, the neglect of years had obliterated it.