To Lizzie's terrified eyes it bore an eye, a single gleaming eye, just above the level of the stair rail, and this eye was turned on her.
It was too much.

She dropped the tray on the table with a crash and gave vent to a piercing shriek that would have shamed the siren of a fire engine.
Miss Cornelia and Anderson, rushing in from the hall and the billiard room respectively, each with a lighted candle, found her gasping and clutching at the table for support.
"For the love of heaven, what's wrong ?" cried Miss Cornelia irritatedly.

The coffeepot she was carrying in her other hand spilled a portion of its boiling contents on Lizzie's shoe and Lizzie screamed anew and began to dance up and down on the uninjured foot.
"Oh, my foot--my foot!" she squealed hysterically.

"My foot!" Miss Cornelia tried to shake her back to her senses.
"My patience! Did you yell like that because you stubbed your toe ?" "You scalded it!" cried Lizzie wildly.

"It went up the staircase!" "Your toe went up the staircase ?" "No, no! An eye--an eye as big as a saucer! It ran right up that staircase--" She indicated the alcove with a trembling forefinger.