text:  But all of this is not to diminish the perturbing sound of his many legs, how many, on the wooden floorboards, a sound far louder than it ought to have been, nor to diminish the horror she experienced upon hearing this sound, which preceded him out of the recently scrubbed bathroom, a horror that sent her up into the swivel chair at her small desk in the corner of the bedroom, where she perched, clenching her knees, swiveling slightly, staring at him.