The frowning regard of that long line of painted warriors seemed somehow to be full of menace.

There was something grim, too, in the sight of those empty suits of armour.
"I may be superstitious," Lord Ashleigh said, "but there are times, especially just lately, when I seem to find a new and hateful quality in silence.

What is it, I wonder?
I ask you but I think I know.

It is the conviction that there is some alien presence, something disturbing lurking close at hand." He suddenly rose to his feet, pushed his chair back and walked to the window, which opened level with the ground.

He threw it up and listened.
The others came over and joined him.