He sat glaring at her, his hate growing. Something very strange seemed to be happening to him. He could not prevent it, whatever it was. His head and heart seemed to be whirling around, his emotions being stirred up inside him. He felt terribly heavy. Then suddenly he was light, as if he would float. But he could not move. He sat petrified in his armchair watching, as a horrible black ghostly shadow, which seemed to have sprung from his own soul, rose rapidly above the chair and then jumped like lightening to the part of the room where his wife was sitting. He stared wildly, immobile, as the apparition tore the woman from her seat, hurled her to the floor and encircled her throat with its hands. The hands appeared to become real while the rest of the thing seemed to fade away. Slowly they became stronger and stronger as they closed tighter around her neck, and she gave a low muffled scream of agony as the life was rapidly squeezed from her. Immediately the spectre sprang back to Joe, who became heavy and weak. His head felt as though it were spinning around. Then he fell down dazed, and fainted.
As he awoke from an interminable sleep he could hear Tom's voice, answering another unfamiliar voice.
"Yes," Tom was saying through his tears. "It was Dad. He did it so suddenly. He just seemed to spring from his seat and - and attack."
At this, Joe's mind woke up fully, as he remembered the strange and horrible thing he had seen. He sat up, his head full of questions, which he didn¡¦t have a chance to ask.
"I think you'd better come along with us, Mr Dunstan," the man was saying. As he glanced at his beautiful wife lying dead on the floor, Joe was lifted to his feet by the speaker and another police officer.
"No, no! I didn't do it. Not me. A strange horrible thing! I didn't do it," he was sobbing to himself, as they dragged him out the door to the police car. "I didn't do it!"