The Thing on the Doorstep

"He must be cremated--he who was not Edward Derby when I shot him. I shall go mad if he is not, for I may be the next. But my will is not weak and I shall not let it be undermined by the terrors I know are seething around it."- Daniel Upton, "The Thing on the Doorstep"Daniel Upton, the story's narrator, explains that he has killed his best friend, Edward Derby, and that he hopes his account will prove that he is not a murderer. He begins by describing Derby's life and career. Derby had been interested in the occult even as a very young boy. This is what caused him to befriend Upton. The two would chat about dark mythology in their spare time. Whenever Derby came over to chat he always used the same knocking pattern of three strokes, a pause, and then two additional strokes on the knocker. Upton had always been able to identify Derby this way. Derby's parents had always doted on him and he had a particular reliance on them, especially his mother. Her death had sent him into a depression, and it took him quite a long time to recover. Upton then tells of Asenath Waite, a female classmate of Derby's at Miskatonic University, daughter of Ephraim. Edward and Asenath soon wed after bonding over their love of the occult. Despite his qualms Derby moves into the old Crowninshield House, with three servants from Innsmouth.A few years later, people start to notice odd changes in Derby's abilities. Sometimes he drives off by himself, even though he has never been taught to drive. Occasionally he is driven back by a chauffeur or mechanic while he huddles in the back seat of the car. Derby confides in Upton, telling him strange stories about Asenath. One night he comes to the door in a panic and starts describing how he will never let her do a certain thing to him again. He tries to hint at how he believes that her father, Ephraim Waite, may not actually be dead. In the midst of this story he abruptly stops, as if some hypnotic spell has come over him. Upton is later called to pick up Derby, who has been found in Chesuncook, Maine, rambling incoherently. On the trip back, Derby tells of Asenath using his body, and is certain that it is in fact Ephraim who resides in the body of Asenath. Derby tells Upton, "She [Asenath] jots down a note in writing that's just like her father's manuscripts, stroke for stroke." Before finishing his story, Derby has a small seizure and rapidly changes personality, asking Upton to ignore what he might have just said. Upton however sees a change in his eyes. He thinks they look like Asenath's eyes, then that they look perhaps more like Ephraim' eyes.A few months later, Derby shows up at Upton's door and says he has found a way to keep Asenath away and to stop her from using his body, implying some sort of spell or ritual. Derby finishes renovations on his old family house, yet seems strangely reluctant to leave the Crowninshield Home. Upton receives a visit from Derby, who begins raving about his wife and father-in-law, and how he can still feel her, him, it, clawing at his mind while he sleeps, trying to get hold of him. Upton gets Derby to sleep, but then has him taken to a sanitarium in Arkham. The Sanitarium calls Upton to tell him that Derby's "reason has suddenly come back," though upon visiting Upton can see it is not the true personality of Edward Derby, but the person he had encountered on the ride home.Upton is roused from his sleep by a knocking at his door, using Edward's old signal of three-and-two strokes. Upton believes it may be Derby, but opens his door to find a dwarfed, humped messenger concealed under Derby's large coat, carrying a letter from Derby. The letter explains that Derby has in fact killed Asenath and buried her body in their cellar. But he should have realized that Asenath's (possibly Ephraim's) soul is partially detached from her body,