Men--think! How can he have gone hence?
Who would make away with him ?" But there was no answer to these questions.

The thing remained a mystery.

If there was any plot, these three honest thanes were not in it.

And then as I walked uneasily from side to side of the room, turning over impossible ways of disappearance in my mind, I came near where the great chair had been.

And under my step the floor creaked.
Now seeing how that house was built, this was a sound one would not expect to hear at all.