The Grey Room

th of the main front, and upon which opened a dozen bedrooms and dressing-rooms. They proceeded to the eastern extremity. It was li

Grey Room as elsewhere when I started my own plant twenty years ago. My father

nd the curve of the oriel ran a cushioned seat eighteen inches above the ground, while on the western side of the room, set in the internal wall, was a modern fireplace with a white Adams mantel above it. Some old, carved chairs stood round the walls, and in one corner, stacked together, lay half a dozen old oil portraits, grimy and faded. They called for the restorer, but

aspect. Nothing gloomy or depressing ma

ore amiable looking roo

rnest Travers expressed admi

ings here?" he asked. "They are be

neas for those two chairs; but the things are heirlooms in a sort of way, and I shouldn't feel justified in parting with them.

oom these chairs to a haunted

ook his head and

too full as it

of things," replied his nephew.

lers and tiger-skins, which I know you don't admire. Wait in patience, Henry. And we wi

heir thoughts back to

sense. Mary loves this room. I'll make you a sporting offer. Let me sleep in it to-night, and then, when I report a clean bill to-morrow, you can throw it open agai

r, howeve

too late to go over the ground again

u must let me look at it by daylight, and bring Nelly. The ceilin

his friend. "They are Elizabethan. The plaster is certainly wonderful, and

nd the rest

nd restored it to its place outsid

abinet," he said. "I

went to their rooms. The two younger men descended toge

amp out in the Grey Room to-night. Then, in the morning, I'll tel

modified. I'll sleep there. I'm death on it, a

He refused

n't he

be mine, some day, so it's up to me to knock this musty yarn on the head once and for all. Could anyt

to my experiences, and only wish I thought anything would show up. I beg you'll raise no objection. It was

to put out the lights, and continued their discussion. The argument began to grow strenuou

elders had done, on the general question. Henry declared himself not wholly convinced. He adopted an agnostic at

. There's no mumbo jumbo about it, in my opinion. Chemical analysis has reached down to hormones and enzymes and all manner of subtle secretions discovered by this generation of inquirers; but it's all organic. Nobody ha

read modern

en? Biologists don't turn down

out-is merely a theory with nothing to prove it. When he dies, the animating principle doesn't lea

We don't know anything about what life really mea

ge is just as much alive as a herring; a nettle is just as much alive as an oak-tree; and an oak

ve in a life after

wouldn't? Because, if you honestly did, it would transform t

-yet it does

matters but trying to make everybody else believe it, too. But as a matter of fact, the people who do believe it, or think they do, seem to me

d don't seem to realize how much their

a turnip thinks. They dwell in a foggy sort of way on the future life when they go

im back to the p

Ghosts hate people who don't believe in them. They'd cold shoulder you; but in my case they might feel I was good material,

laug

s making of himself. The governor was right about that. When Fayre-Michell asked if he believed in t

died there, and witho

very good reason, only we

a differen

atter; I'm not married, an

mbu

like it, anyway

ing in the Grey Room; but she won't know till I tell her of my rash act to-morrow. Don't think I'm a fool. Nobody loves life better than I do, and nobody has better reason to. But I'm positive that this is all rank nonsense, and so are you really.

personal fear. They still argued, and the clock s

'll do this. We'll toss up, and the winn

ossed a coin, and May

y showed a measure of annoy

w what nerves mean. I can sleep anywhere, anyhow. If you can sleep in a submarine, you bet you can in a nice, airy Elizabethan room, even if

nd Tom rose to make

hing less than Queen Elizabeth herself

other sur

you'll laugh, yet, on my honor, Tom, I've got a feeling I'd rather you didn't. It isn't nerves. I'm not nervy any more

hy

the bottom of my mind that it's not good enough. I can't explain; there ar

tion o

you. But I ask

ng if you'd w

kno

because I won it. Hanged if I don't

and soul, Tom. She didn't know how much, and probably I didn't either. But that's done, and no man on earth rejoices in her great happiness more than I do. And no man on earth is going to be a better or a truer friend to you and her than, please God, I shall be. But that being so, can't you see the rest? My life

eny the

you like-that I do believe now there is something in this. I don't say it's supernatural, and I don't say it isn't; but I do feel deeply imp

ked at him in

s got into y

a conviction, Tom. Do be

a little, emptied h

ed this to determine anybody. If you, as a sane person, honestly believe there's a pinch o

me, too, t

ple-haven't got pluck enough. If I get any sport, I'll be qu

favor; and not for y

he next room. How little she'll guess! Perhaps, if I see

lige m

r own object? You mustn't ask me to throw up the sponge to your sudden intuition of danger sprung

his turn, grew

t as if a nervous old woman was talking to you. But you'll go your own way. It do

trouble you for the key? And your rev

e key was in the po

f honor, Lennox,"

the key on this spee

he revolver

g, if you're awake first," added

lso extinguished as they left the hall and ascended the stairs. The young

see it from another point

g, and don't seem to understand that, even if I mig

lish sort of pride. If I

all his angels wouldn't

d returned in a minute o

ight,"

old boy. Than

bers. Funny you

t back,

and while Lennox retired at once and might have been expected to pass

d; he had been through the furnace of war; he had received a first-class education. It seemed impossible to imagine that he spoke the truth, or that his sudden suspicion of real perils, beyond human power to combat, could be anything but a spi

e he had dismissed Henry from his mind. He put on pyjamas and a dressin

a chair. A few broken reflections drifted through his mind, as he yawned and prepared to sleep. His brain brought up events of the day-a missed shot, a good shot, lunch under a haystack with Mary and Fayre-Michell's niece. She was smart and showy and slangy-cheap every way compared with Mary. What would his wife think if she knew he was so near? Come to him fo

less, very dark, and very tranquil. H

ct made him look forward. He had neither lied nor exaggerated to May. From the moment of losing the toss, he honestly experienced a strong, subjective impression of danger arising out of the proposed attack on the mysteries of the Grey Room. It was, indeed, that consciousness of greater possibilities in the adventure than May admitted or imagined which made Lennox so insistent. Looking back, he perceived many things, and chiefly that he had taken a wrong

deeds given a variety of contingencies. For reason, which at first kept him, despite his disquiet, in the region of the rational, grew weaker with Henry as the night advanced; the shadow of trouble deepened as his weary wits lost their balance to combat it. The premonition was as fo

of reason and the assurance that some things simply do not happen. From this extravagant summit of horror, his fears gradually receded. Such a waking nightmare even quieted his nerves when it was past; for if a possibility presents a ludicrous side, then its ho

He travelled round and round in circles, then asked himself what he would do and say to-morrow if anything happened to Tom-nothing, of course, fatal, but something perhaps so grave that May himself would be unable to explain it. In that case Henry could only state facts exactly as they had occurred. But there would be a deuce of a muddle if he had to make statements and describe the exact sequence of recent incidents. Already he forgot the exact sequence. It seemed ages since he parted from Ma

mental dread and discomfort were only waiting to break out again; but he smothered them, ret

erything was changed, and the phantoms of his imagination remained only as memories to be laughed at. He no longer felt alarm or anxiety. He dressed

ther he might himself expect one. It didn't matter. He knew perfectly we