Part 14 (2/2)

The two men looked at one another for the s.p.a.ce of some seconds, and there was an indefinable quality in their silence which for the first time made me admit a swift question into my mind; and I wondered a little at my rashness in coming with so little reflection into a big case of this incalculable doctor. But no answer suggested itself, and to withdraw was, of course, inconceivable. The gates had closed behind me now, and the spirit of the adventure was already besieging my mind with its advance guard of a thousand little hopes and fears.

Explaining that he would wait till after dinner to discuss anything serious, as no reference was ever made before his sister, he led the way upstairs and showed us personally to our rooms; and it was just as I was finis.h.i.+ng dressing that a knock came at my door and Dr. Silence entered.

He was always what is called a serious man, so that even in moments of comedy you felt he never lost sight of the profound gravity of life, but as he came across the room to me I caught the expression of his face and understood in a flash that he was now in his most grave and earnest mood. He looked almost troubled. I stopped fumbling with my black tie and stared.

”It is serious,” he said, speaking in a low voice, ”more so even than I imagined. Colonel Wragge's control over his thoughts concealed a great deal in my psychometrising of the letter. I looked in to warn you to keep yourself well in hand--generally speaking.”

”Haunted house?” I asked, conscious of a distinct s.h.i.+ver down my back.

But he smiled gravely at the question.

”Haunted House of Life more likely,” he replied, and a look came into his eyes which I had only seen there when a human soul was in the toils and he was thick in the fight of rescue. He was stirred in the deeps.

”Colonel Wragge--or the sister?” I asked hurriedly, for the gong was sounding.

”Neither directly,” he said from the door. ”Something far older, something very, very remote indeed. This thing has to do with the ages, unless I am mistaken greatly, the ages on which the mists of memory have long lain undisturbed.”

He came across the floor very quickly with a finger on his lips, looking at me with a peculiar searchingness of gaze.

”Are you aware yet of anything--odd here?” he asked in a whisper.

”Anything you cannot quite define, for instance. Tell me, Hubbard, for I want to know all your impressions. They may help me.”

I shook my head, avoiding his gaze, for there was something in the eyes that scared me a little. But he was so in earnest that I set my mind keenly searching.

”Nothing yet,” I replied truthfully, wis.h.i.+ng I could confess to a real emotion; ”nothing but the strange heat of the place.”

He gave a little jump forward in my direction.

”The heat again, that's it!” he exclaimed, as though glad of my corroboration. ”And how would you describe it, perhaps?” he asked quickly, with a hand on the door k.n.o.b.

”It doesn't seem like ordinary physical heat,” I said, casting about in my thoughts for a definition.

”More a mental heat,” he interrupted, ”a glowing of thought and desire, a sort of feverish warmth of the spirit. Isn't that it?”

I admitted that he had exactly described my sensations.

”Good!” he said, as he opened the door, and with an indescribable gesture that combined a warning to be ready with a sign of praise for my correct intuition, he was gone.

I hurried after him, and found the two men waiting for me in front of the fire.

”I ought to warn you,” our host was saying as I came in, ”that my sister, whom you will meet at dinner, is not aware of the real object of your visit. She is under the impression that we are interested in the same line of study--folklore--and that your researches have led to my seeking acquaintance. She comes to dinner in her chair, you know. It will be a great pleasure to her to meet you both. We have few visitors.”

So that on entering the dining-room we were prepared to find Miss Wragge already at her place, seated in a sort of bath-chair. She was a vivacious and charming old lady, with smiling expression and bright eyes, and she chatted all through dinner with unfailing spontaneity. She had that face, unlined and fresh, that some people carry through life from the cradle to the grave; her smooth plump cheeks were all pink and white, and her hair, still dark, was divided into two glossy and sleek halves on either side of a careful parting. She wore gold-rimmed gla.s.ses, and at her throat was a large scarab of green jasper that made a very handsome brooch.

Her brother and Dr. Silence talked little, so that most of the conversation was carried on between herself and me, and she told me a great deal about the history of the old house, most of which I fear I listened to with but half an ear.

”And when Cromwell stayed here,” she babbled on, ”he occupied the very rooms upstairs that used to be mine. But my brother thinks it safer for me to sleep on the ground floor now in case of fire.”

And this sentence has stayed in my memory only because of the sudden way her brother interrupted her and instantly led the conversation on to another topic. The pa.s.sing reference to fire seemed to have disturbed him, and thenceforward he directed the talk himself.

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