The reverend froze, bewildered by this nightmare vision now scarier than his wife's death. Maybe that was just a nightmare, too.
He rubbed his eyes with such violence that he seemed to get angry with himself.
The woman and the child seemed vanished. Many people moved along the way, but those two figures were nowhere to be seen.
On the other side of the street, to witness that incomprehensible scene to him was by chance Chester Smith.
He noticed that Reverend Abblepot was leaving the police station. He saw him stop on the street to observe a point in front of him; to Smith, it seemed that the reverend was looking in his direction. He had then made a gesture of greeting with his hand, but evidently, the reverend didn't notice.
Then Abblepot looked to his left as if he was following some
