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The
effect
was
scarcely
what
I
expected
,
for
the
moonlight
,
coming
in
by
the
great
window
on
the
grand
staircase
,
picked
out
everything
in
vivid
black
shadow
or
reticulated
silvery
illumination
.
Everything
seemed
in
its
proper
position
;
the
house
might
have
been
deserted
on
the
yesterday
instead
of
twelve
months
ago
.
There
were
candles
in
the
sockets
of
the
sconces
,
and
whatever
dust
had
gathered
on
the
carpets
or
upon
the
polished
flooring
was
distributed
so
evenly
as
to
be
invisible
in
my
candlelight
.
A
waiting
stillness
was
over
everything
.
I
was
about
to
advance
,
and
stopped
abruptly
.
A
bronze
group
stood
upon
the
landing
hidden
from
me
by
a
corner
of
the
wall
;
but
its
shadow
fell
with
marvelous
distinctness
upon
the
white
paneling
,
and
gave
me
the
impression
of
some
one
crouching
to
waylay
me
.
The
thing
jumped
upon
my
attention
suddenly
.
I
stood
rigid
for
half
a
moment
,
perhaps
.
Then
,
with
my
hand
in
the
pocket
that
held
the
revolver
,
I
advanced
,
only
to
discover
a
Ganymede
and
Eagle
,
glistening
in
the
moonlight
.
That
incident
for
a
time
restored
my
nerve
,
and
a
dim
porcelain
Chinaman
on
a
buhl
table
,
whose
head
rocked
as
I
passed
,
scarcely
startled
me
.
The
door
of
the
Red
Room
and
the
steps
up
to
it
were
in
a
shadowy
corner
.
I
moved
my
candle
from
side
to
side
in
order
to
see
clearly
the
nature
of
the
recess
in
which
I
stood
,
before
opening
the
door
.
Here
it
was
,
thought
I
,
that
my
predecessor
was
found
,
and
the
memory
of
that
story
gave
me
a
sudden
twinge
of
apprehension
.
I
glanced
over
my
shoulder
at
the
black
Ganymede
in
the
moonlight
,
and
opened
the
door
of
the
Red
Room
rather
hastily
,
with
my
face
half
turned
to
the
pallid
silence
of
the
corridor
.
I
entered
,
closed
the
door
behind
me
at
once
,
turned
the
key
I
found
in
the
lock
within
,
and
stood
with
the
candle
held
aloft
surveying
the
scene
of
my
vigil
,
the
great
Red
Room
of
Lorraine
Castle
,
in
which
the
young
Duke
had
died
;
or
rather
in
which
he
had
begun
his
dying
,
for
he
had
opened
the
door
and
fallen
headlong
down
the
steps
I
had
just
ascended
.
That
had
been
the
end
of
his
vigil
,
of
his
gallant
attempt
to
conquer
the
ghostly
tradition
of
the
place
,
and
never
,
I
thought
,
had
apoplexy
better
served
the
ends
of
superstition
.
There
were
other
and
older
stories
that
clung
to
the
room
,
back
to
the
half-incredible
beginning
of
it
all
,
the
tale
of
a
timid
wife
and
the
tragic
end
that
came
to
her
husband
's
jest
of
frightening
her
.
And
looking
round
that
huge
shadowy
room
with
its
black
window
bays
,
its
recesses
and
alcoves
,
its
dusty
brown-red
hangings
and
dark
gigantic
furniture
,
one
could
well
understand
the
legends
that
had
sprouted
in
its
black
corners
,
its
germinating
darknesses
.
My
candle
was
a
little
tongue
of
light
in
the
vastness
of
the
chamber
;
its
rays
failed
to
pierce
to
the
opposite
end
of
the
room
,
and
left
an
ocean
of
dull
red
mystery
and
suggestion
,
sentinel
shadows
and
watching
darknesses
beyond
its
island
of
light
.
And
the
stillness
of
desolation
brooded
over
it
all
.
I
must
confess
some
impalpable
quality
of
that
ancient
room
disturbed
me
.
I
tried
to
fight
the
feeling
down
.
I
resolved
to
make
a
systematic
examination
of
the
place
,
and
so
,
by
leaving
nothing
to
the
imagination
,
dispel
the
fanciful
suggestions
of
the
obscurity
before
they
obtained
a
hold
upon
me
.
After
satisfying
myself
of
the
fastening
of
the
door
,
I
began
to
walk
round
the
room
,
peering
round
each
article
of
furniture
,
tucking
up
the
valances
of
the
bed
and
opening
its
curtains
wide
.
In
one
place
there
was
a
distinct
echo
to
my
footsteps
,
the
noises
I
made
seemed
so
little
that
they
enhanced
rather
than
broke
the
silence
of
the
place
.
I
pulled
up
the
blinds
and
examined
the
fastenings
of
the
several
windows
.
Attracted
by
the
fall
of
a
particle
of
dust
,
I
leaned
forward
and
looked
up
the
blackness
of
the
wide
chimney
.
Then
,
trying
to
preserve
my
scientific
attitude
of
mind
,
I
walked
round
and
began
tapping
the
oak
paneling
for
any
secret
opening
,
but
I
desisted
before
reaching
the
alcove
.
I
saw
my
face
in
a
mirror
--
white
.
There
were
two
big
mirrors
in
the
room
,
each
with
a
pair
of
sconces
bearing
candles
,
and
on
the
mantelshelf
,
too
,
were
candles
in
china
candle-sticks
.
All
these
I
lit
one
after
the
other
.
The
fire
was
laid
--
an
unexpected
consideration
from
the
old
housekeeper
--
and
I
lit
it
,
to
keep
down
any
disposition
to
shiver
,
and
when
it
was
burning
well
I
stood
round
with
my
back
to
it
and
regarded
the
room
again
.
I
had
pulled
up
a
chintz-covered
armchair
and
a
table
to
form
a
kind
of
barricade
before
me
.
On
this
lay
my
revolver
,
ready
to
hand
.
My
precise
examination
had
done
me
a
little
good
,
but
I
still
found
the
remoter
darkness
of
the
place
and
its
perfect
stillness
too
stimulating
for
the
imagination
.
The
echoing
of
the
stir
and
crackling
of
the
fire
was
no
sort
of
comfort
to
me
.
The
shadow
in
the
alcove
at
the
end
of
the
room
began
to
display
that
undefinable
quality
of
a
presence
,
that
odd
suggestion
of
a
lurking
living
thing
that
comes
so
easily
in
silence
and
solitude
.
And
to
reassure
myself
,
I
walked
with
a
candle
into
it
and
satisfied
myself
that
there
was
nothing
tangible
there
.
I
stood
that
candle
upon
the
floor
of
the
alcove
and
left
it
in
that
position
.
By
this
time
I
was
in
a
state
of
considerable
nervous
tension
,
although
to
my
reason
there
was
no
adequate
cause
for
my
condition
.
My
mind
,
however
,
was
perfectly
clear
.
I
postulated
quite
unreservedly
that
nothing
supernatural
could
happen
,
and
to
pass
the
time
I
began
stringing
some
rhymes
together
,
Ingoldsby
fashion
,
concerning
the
original
legend
of
the
place
.
A
few
I
spoke
aloud
,
but
the
echoes
were
not
pleasant
.
For
the
same
reason
I
also
abandoned
,
after
a
time
,
a
conversation
with
myself
upon
the
impossibility
of
ghosts
and
haunting
.
My
mind
reverted
to
the
three
old
and
distorted
people
downstairs
,
and
I
tried
to
keep
it
upon
that
topic
.
The
sombre
reds
and
grays
of
the
room
troubled
me
;
even
with
its
seven
candles
the
place
was
merely
dim
.
The
light
in
the
alcove
flaring
in
a
draft
,
and
the
fire
flickering
,
kept
the
shadows
and
penumbra
perpetually
shifting
and
stirring
in
a
noiseless
flighty
dance
.
Casting
about
for
a
remedy
,
I
recalled
the
wax
candles
I
had
seen
in
the
corridor
,
and
,
with
a
slight
effort
,
carrying
a
candle
and
leaving
the
door
open
,
I
walked
out
into
the
moonlight
,
and
presently
returned
with
as
many
as
ten
.
These
I
put
in
the
various
knick-knacks
of
china
with
which
the
room
was
sparsely
adorned
,
and
lit
and
placed
them
where
the
shadows
had
lain
deepest
,
some
on
the
floor
,
some
in
the
window
recesses
,
arranging
and
rearranging
them
until
at
last
my
seventeen
candles
were
so
placed
that
not
an
inch
of
the
room
but
had
the
direct
light
of
at
least
one
of
them
.
It
occurred
to
me
that
when
the
ghost
came
I
could
warn
him
not
to
trip
over
them
.
The
room
was
now
quite
brightly
illuminated
.
There
was
something
very
cheering
and
reassuring
in
these
little
silent
streaming
flames
,
and
to
notice
their
steady
diminution
of
length
offered
me
an
occupation
and
gave
me
a
reassuring
sense
of
the
passage
of
time
.
