The Grey Room

battled parapets and other warlike survivals of unrestful days now past-had obeyed the laws of architectur

ord of perfection, when men thought on large lines and the conditions of labour made possible achievements now seldom within the power of a priv

h with the Great Western Railway, and the station lay five miles from the manor house. No more perfect parklands, albeit on a modest scale, existed in South Devon, and the views of the surrounding heights and gr

pleasure, watered by a little trout stream, spread beneath the manor house, and behind it rose hot-houses and the glass and walled gardens of fruit and vegetables.

erested in shooting and hunting, had devoted time and means to the flower gardens, and rendered them as rich as was possible in his d

eaviness of morning clouds, had risen clear of Haldon Hills and cast a radiance, still dimmed by vapour, over the glow of the autumn trees. Subdued sounds of birds came from the glades below, and far distant, from the scrub at the edge of the woods, pheasants were crowing. The morning spark

his declining days. The age of "Prince" remained doubtful, but he was decrepit now-gone in the hams and suffering from cataract of both eyes-a disease to which it is impossible to minister in a dog. But his life was good to him; he still got about, slept in the sun, and shared the bes

riel window of the Grey Room, where it hung aloft on the side of the wall, like a brilliant bubble, and flashed with the sunshine that now irradiated the case

, "Needn't ask you if you have

ued to gaze far away over Henry's head at the sunr

t seemed that the watcher was in a trance. Henry felt his heart jump, and a sensation of alarm sharpened his thought. For him the morning was suddenly transformed, and fearing an evil thing had indeed befallen the other, he turned to the terrace and entered the breakfast-room

to get up and the last

m and ascended to the corridor. Beneath, Ernest Travers, a being of fussy temperament with a hea

is is your first visit, and yo

ining one. He loves sound maxims. You may say he runs his life on sound maxims. He lives charitably with all men and it puzzles him, as it puzzles me, to understand the growing doubt, the class prejudice-nay, class hatred the failure of trust and the increasing tension and uneasiness between employer and employed. He and I are agreed that

omach depressed the colonel.

shared my men's dread of church parade, though our padr

. First he woke a preliminary whisper of the great bronze disc, then deepened the note to a genial and mellow roar, and finally calmed it down again unt

, and now in genuine alarm, he went below again, stopped Fre

race before meat; then he stepped to his side a

er?" asked the old man as he ro

s alarm. He stammered a little, but str

an't talk now. Tom and I had a yarn when you'd gone to bed,

not w

e were both death on it, an

re i

alled him and made a row at the door, but he doe

. Tell Caunter-no, I will. Don't breathe a syllable of t

tened to the toolroom. He was a handy man, had been at sea during the war, and now returned to his old employment. His slow brain moved backwards, and he remembered that t

uncle as they approa

your expense this morning. But I'm afraid he's ill-fainted or something. He turned

"You have both done a very wrong thin

or he cal

annoyed! If this is a jest, it has gone far

Absolute silence h

things to create no uneasiness at the breakfast-table, determined to go down again. But he was too late, for his daughter had

him to be so lazy. Here's a letter from the ship

r father, "come

at window which threw l

has gone amiss with Tom. I know nothing yet, but last night, it seems, after we had

nd I so near him-sleepin

enry saw him looking out of the window five m

o to him,

down and ask Ernest to join me. Do not be

e desired instantly, but she descended like li

on-in-law slept in the Grey Room last night, and he does not respond to

efused him permissio

s a very good motto, but young men will be y

ded with sunshine, and seemed to welcome them with genial light and attractive art. The furniture revealed its rich grain and beautiful modelling; the cherubs carved on the great chairs seemed to dance w

had placed it; his rug was at the foot of the bed. He himself knelt in the recess at the open window upon the settee that ran beneath. His pos

er to wait a moment, but she shook

oth the quick and the dead. For Tom May had expired many hours before. His face was of an ivory whiteness, his mouth closed. No sign of fear, but rather a profound astonishment sat upon his features. His eyes were opened and dim. In

tuations when everybody desires to be of service, and when well-meaning and small-minded people are often

nd his wife uncons

r room. It was her nursery of old. Here they put her on her bed, and sent Caunter for Mrs. Travers and Mary's old servant, Jane Bond. She had recovered consciousness before the wo

he said. "I will onl

ke, while the col

ut if it is anything psych

ead. What more there is to know, you'll hear later. I want Vane, because

roke

asped the

to his own room. They could not dispose him in a comely position-a fact that special

ur miles off. He took a small motor-car, did the journey along empty roads in

t whispering on the terrace. They had as yet heard no details, and were considering w

ring to smoke but feeling that to do so would appear callous, descended into the seclusion of the garden. Then Ernest Travers joined them. He was important, but could only tell them that May

me that Mary, Mrs. May, is very sadly. That is natural-an awful blow. I find myself incapable of

earth for them?" asked

tter go to church. By so doing we get out of the way for

an uncomfortable. Some, at the bottom of their souls, felt almost indignant that an event so horrible should have disturbed the level tenor of their lives. They shared the most

Felix Fayre-Michell persisted. "

well, it was her first visit, and adventures are, after all, adventures. Her uncle discussed the psychic significance of the tragedy, and gave instances of similar events. One or two listened to him for lack of anything better to do. There was a general sensation of blankness. They were all thrown. Life had let them do

Handford, a stout man from Yorkshir

f anything in his environment,

think!" answered another; and t

tly. He had put on a black tie an

e told Sir Walter we all go to church, and he asked me if we would like the motors; but I felt, the day being

the church party in the rear, and reliev

decent-minded person would have felt this appalling tragedy far too mu

ch like a lot of children, because he te

. In fact, I don't think I shall go," added

would like i

ng, that there's far, far less consideration among young men for their elders than there used to be in my young

heard him. Then the young fool-Heaven forgive him-behind ev

ing upset, life for the moment turned upside down-a woman's heart broken very likely-and all for a piece of disobedient folly. Such things make one out of t

in the Navy ought to have prevented this," continued Fayre-Mi

ow," said his niece,

he price has been a great deal of suffering and discomfort and stress of mind that we

ke for my nerves. I'm a psychic myself, and I reac

. Travers, some hundred yards ahead, was w

andford, but not loud enough f

eeze and a squat grey tower, over which floated a white ensign on a flagstaff,

flag was brought down to half-mast.

omena. "Be sure Sir Walter never told him to do anything of that sort

the manor house together. He displayed very deep concern combined with professional

e as sure as I'm alive," he said. "To think-we shot side by side yesterday, and I remar

g her nerve, as she would be s

of high qualifications, but he kept in touch with medical progress, to the extent of reading about it and availing himself of improved methods and preparations when opportunity offered. He examined the dead man very carefully, indicated how his posture might be rendered more normal, and satisfi

e; her mind had not yet absorbed the full extent of her sorrow. She talked incessantly and d

that I was troubling about his letter! He will never see the sea he loved so much again. He always hated that verse in the

talked gen

the dead, remember. He is at peace, Mary. You must come and see him presently. Your father will c

loved him fiercely, passionately; but he never knew how good he was, because Tom did not think quite like old Mr. May. I must write and say that T

w his grief more vividly than as yet she felt her own. She rose presently, quick-eared to wait the call, and went to her desk in the window. Then she wrote a letter to her father-in-law, and pictured his ministering at that moment to his church. Her inclination was to soften the blow, yet she knew that could only be a cruel kindness. She told him, therefore, that his son must die. Then she remembered that he was

knew that this was not a sleeping but a waking experience. She waited for her father, yet dreaded to hear him return. She t

space that separated them. She blamed herself bitterly that she had decreed to sleep in her old nursery. She had loved

ept saying to herself. "And I sleeping and drea

death may be? And who would ever know what he had felt at the end, or what his mind had suffered if time had been given him to unde

se I thought he had been call

er place than a ship,

annering had entered the Grey Room for a

e past again," declared the physician. "Things were just

e moment I heard what he had done, I somehow knew that my unfortunate son-in-law was dead. I directly negat

as impossible to understand as the nurse's death. I do not say it will; but I suspect it will.

cause-a negation

ray it may, however, for all our sakes," he continued. "It is impossible to say how deeply I feel this

r Walter. "I have not considered all this m

uest, of course, and an inquiry. Also a post-mortem. Shall I communic

u understand that. But I should like an independent examination by some great authority, some one who kne

he matter with all their wits and without your personal sorrow. An independent inq

ed opinions. I had always regarded my aversion to this room as a human weakness-a thing to be con

rning light showed its intricate pattern of interwoven circles converging from the walls to the centre, and so creating a

st, I think. Indeed, if I may advise, you will do we

ant to see i

beg that the local men are not employed. There is reason in that, for it is quite

m to send the most accomplished and experienced men in the service. Bu

cannot even assert that this i

ds a crimina

were responsible for it, might, nevertheless, be the work

er stare

suggest a supernat

or shook

is science, and not for a moment do I imagine anything supernatural here. I think, however, there are unconscious forces at work, and those responsible for setting those forces in action would be criminals without a doubt, if the

ng in this house for w

ible for this atrocious thing, then it should be within the reach of man's wits to find him. We failed before; but this time no casual examination of this place, or the antecedents of your son-in-law's life, will serve the purpose. We must go to the bottom, or, rather

e room is haunted, and that this is the operation of an evil force outside Nature, yet permi

go now. I will telegraph to London-to Sir Howard Fellowes-also, I think to the State authorities on fo

ening. You will come aga

should have a reply to my messages. I will g

to do more myself. My mind is cruelly shaken. T

dmit. But life is full of awful things.

ell if we could give him something to do. He feels guilty

on-in-law, but failed. Lennox is rather cowed and dismayed-naturally. The young, however, survive mental and physical disasters and recover in the most amazing manner. Their mental recuperation

red that he had

evade my obligations for personal sorrow. As for this roo

nd business-like, I am not feeling this. Seldom have I had such a shock in nearly forty years' work. You

nt. I must go to my guests. I am very sorry for them also. It

stay. He is a comfor

Henry is here. He will stop for the present. Mary is all that matters. I sha

y necessary one. Their devotion was absolute. It must go

he visited the dead, when told that he could do so. She was now very

hat I loved is gone; and, going, it has changed all

er bowed

our mother died,

f the dead man and prayed. Her father knelt beside

se pre

way from him now," she said.

told her that he was going to face life a

ing that it would sound. Masters had a more correct sense of the fitness of things than he. He thought curiously upon this incident,

eep in this room to-nigh

to. I am going to sleep