The Haunted Chamber

eave the castle, but Dora would not hear of their departure, and Florence, feeling it will be selfish of her to cut short

raggling home, in ones or twos. Amongst the first to return are Sir Adrian and his cousin Arthur Dynecou

herself as being very grieved for its loss, and had laughingly declared she would give any reward claimed by any one who should restore it to her. Two or three men had, on the instant, pledged themselves to devote their

Delmaine's bangle,"

er maid has put it some

here but in a jewel-case, or in a special

bangles are very liable to

searched high and low, and stil

en since we left h

ange rounded ivy-grown walls, and the little narrow holes in the sides they

ower to make Arthur Dynecourt grow pale and to start so stra

one to whom a sudden inspiration has come, "that day on which we vis

ng at him e

lightly. "By Jove, it would be odd if she had-e

k by the suggestion. "Why, it must have been just about that time when she lo

ns so hastily! It is highly improbable. I should s

at all events," declar

d intention to search the haunted chamber for the lost bangle? With all his eloquence he seeks to convince him that there the bangle could not have been left, but to no effect. His suggestion has taken firm

own head," says Dynecourt lightly, at last surrendering his po

f this. He is looking at his home, as it stands grand and majestic in the red light of the dying sun. He is looking, too, at the old tower, and at the upper portion of it, wh

ancestors claim me as their victim, and incarcerate me in some

sly, whilst watching the other with eager scrutiny. "It is q

u, consider I haven't gone

fixed upon his cousin. "I knew you would abandon that fool

ps, and there they separate, Sir Adrian leaving him with

not with the intention of overtaking him, but of keeping him i

old house seems wrapped in slumber. Above, the pretty guests in their dainty tea-gowns are si

er which he turns aside, and, as though filled with guilty fear, rushes through one pass

ver it might seem strange that some of the cobwebs in this apparently long-forgotten place have lately been brushed away, as by a figure ascending or descen

considerable mountings of what seem to be interminable steps, the upper door he had opened on the day t

apped in the dismal darkness of the staircase, listen

up the grand staircase, traverses the corridors and galleries, and finally comes to the first of the iron-bound doors.

hat makes him stand now as though hesitati

ace!" Yet, he is quite unconscious of the ears that are listening for his lightest mo

s to him how unpleasant might be the consequences should the door close and the secret lock fasten him in against his will. He pushe

e commences his search. Then, swift as lightning, a form darts from its concealed position,

or the missing prize. He sees nothing, hears nothing, though a treache

on its deadly mission, silently lays hold of the door, and, drawing it toward

ats down the stairs, and never indeed relaxes his speed until at leng

s concerned. No human being saw him go to the ill-fated tower; no human voice heard him declare his intention of searching it for the missing trinket. He-Arthur-had been careful before parting from him to

lines before his eyes render him the veriest coward that walks the earth. Shall he return and release his prisoner, and treat the whole thing as a joke, and so l

an die then in his distant garret alone, despairing, undiscoverable! For who will think of going to the haunted room in search of him? Who will even guess that any mission, however important, would lead him to it, without having first mentioned it to some one? It is a grewsome spot, sel

ns away, and joins the women and the ret

r, though he hears the question, does not even change col

n?" asks Mrs. Talbot, gl

he'd prefer walking home, and he shoveled his birds into our cart,

who is sitting in a window through which the rays of the evening sun

to so arrange matters that, if discovery ensues upon his scheme, he may still find for himself a path out of his difficulties, he says quiet

t in a querulous tone. "I quite began to believe the poor boy had blown ou

hinks of Sir Adrian, having no designs upon him for Lady Gertrude, that young lady being en

enters at this moment, "go to the library and

, ma

turns and says Sir Adria

try everywhere," says D

brings back the same answer; Sir A

an is most punctual. I do hope my first impression was not the right one, and that we sha'n't find

a terribly old-fashioned surmise! No man nowadays kills

Lady FitzAlmont into dinner, a great fear falls upon all the guests sa