Derby tells Upton, "She 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. 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.
Upton is later called to pick up Derby, who has been found in Chesuncook, Maine, rambling incoherently.
In the midst of this story he abruptly stops, as if some hypnotic spell has come over him. Derby tries to hint at how he believes that Asenath's late father, Ephraim Waite, may not actually be dead. One night he comes to Upton's door in a panic and proclaims how he will never let her do a certain thing to him again. Derby confides in Upton, telling him strange stories about Asenath. Occasionally he is driven back by a chauffeur or mechanic while he huddles in the back seat of the car. Sometimes he drives off by himself, even though he has never been taught to drive. Despite his qualms Derby moves into the old Crowninshield House, with three servants from Innsmouth.Ī few years later, people start to notice odd changes in Derby's abilities. Edward and Asenath soon wed after bonding over their love of the occult. Upton then tells of Asenath Waite, a female classmate of Derby's at Miskatonic University. Her death had sent him into a depression from which he took a long time to recover. Derby's parents had always doted on him and he had a particular reliance on them, especially his mother. Whenever Derby visited 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. The two would discuss dark mythology in their spare time. Derby had been interested in the occult even as a very young boy, which led to him befriending Upton. He begins by describing Derby's life and career. 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"ĭaniel 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. I shall go mad if he is not, for I may be the next. "He must be cremated-he who was not Edward Derby when I shot him. The story ends with the arrival of a hunched figure on the protagonist's doorstep
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