He shivered at the ghostly splash and moved away, himself an ineffectual ghost wandering aimlessly in the night.
The Vicar's lamp had been extinguished long ago.

A faint breeze sprang up.
The star sank lower in the sky.

Suddenly, as he turned back from the road to cross the common for the hundredth time, he became aware that he was not alone.

Footsteps rather felt than heard were in front of him.

He pressed forward and peered through the darkness, and finally made out a dim form some thirty yards away.