What he had seen the night before was the spirit of his dead neighbour Annie.  The apparition that he perceived was simply trying to get him to go up the lane, and to awaken the two girls by knocking on their door.  If Patrick had managed to awaken the girls, they would surely have taken him inside the cottage, put the kettle on for a cup of tea and listen to his account of his ghostly encounter.

Then afterwards, after Patrick had left and made his way home, the girls may not have gone straight back to bed:  instead they may have sat on in their kitchen pondering over the night’s events and so, by that very action they may have saved themselves from the falling tree.

Patrick came to realise that that was the reason that the spirit took the form of a rabbit; it was because the spirit did not want to frighten the old man or distress him a great deal. Annie just wanted him to wake up her two daughters and so save them from their cruel fate.

But he, Patrick, was much too stubborn and refused to comprehend and by doing so sealed the girl’s fate.

... end ...