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Page 47
This was a relief to me, yet the experience was not a happy one.
Ellen had asked permission to leave the light burning in the hall
during the mayor's absence, so the way was plain enough before me;
but no parlor floor looks inviting after twelve o'clock at night,
and this one held a secret as yet unsolved, which did not add to
its comfort or take the mysterious threat from the shadows lurking
in corners and under stairways which I had to pass. As I hurried
past the place where the clock had once stood, I thought of the
nurses' story and of the many frightened hearts which had throbbed
on the stairway I had just left and between the walls I was fast
approaching; but I did not turn back. That would have been an
acknowledgment of the truth of what I was at this very time
exerting my full faculties to disprove.
I knew little about the rear of the house and nothing about the
cellar. But when I had found my way into the kitchen and lit the
candle I had brought from my room, I had no difficulty in deciding
which of the many doors led below. There is something about a
cellar door which is unmistakable, but it took me a minute to
summon up courage to open it after I had laid my hand on its
old-fashioned latch. Why do we so hate darkness and the chill of
unknown regions, even when we know they are empty of all that can
hurt or really frighten us? I was as safe there as in my bed
up-stairs, yet I had to force myself to consider more than once the
importance of my errand and the positive result it might have in
allaying the disturbance in more than one mind, before I could lift
that latch and set my foot on the short flight which led into the
yawning blackness beneath me.
But once on my way I took courage. I pictured to myself the
collection of useful articles with which the spaces before me were
naturally filled, and thought how harmless were the sources of the
grotesque shadows which bowed to me from every side and even from
the cement floor toward the one spot where the stones of the
foundation showed themselves clear of all encumbering objects. As
I saw how numerous these articles were, and how small a portion of
the wall itself was really visible, I had my first practical fear,
and a practical fear soon puts imaginary ones to flight. What if
some huge box or case of bottles should have been piled up in front
of the marked brick I was seeking? I am strong, but I could not
move such an object alone, and this search was a solitary one; I
had been forbidden to seek help.
The anxiety this possibility involved nerved me to instant action.
I leaped forward to the one clear spot singled out for me by chance
and began a hurried scrutiny of the short strip of wall which was
all that was revealed to me on the right-hand side. Did it hold
the marked brick? My little candle shook with eagerness and it was
with difficulty I could see the face of the brick close enough to
determine. But fortune favored, and presently my eye fell on one
whose surface showed a ruder, scratched cross. It was in the
lowest row and well within reach of my hand. If I could move it
the box would soon be in my possession--and what might that box not
contain!
Looking about, I found the furnace and soon the gas-jet which made
attendance upon it possible. This lit, I could set my candle down,
and yet see plainly enough to work. I had shears in my pocket. I
have had a man's training in the handling of tools and felt quite
confident that I could pry this brick out if it was as easily
loosened as Bess had given me to understand. My first thrust at
the dusty cement inclosing it encouraged me greatly. It was very
friable and so shallow that my scissors'-point picked it at once.
In five minutes' time the brick was clear, so that I easily lifted
it out and set it on the floor. The small black hole which was
left was large enough to admit my hand. I wasted no time thrusting
it in, expecting to feel the box at once and draw it out. But it
was farther back than I expected, and while I was feeling about
something gave way and fell with a slight, rustling noise down out
of my reach. Was it the box? No, for in another instant I had
come in contact with its broken edges and had drawn it out; the
falling object must have been some extra mortar, and it had gone
where? I did not stop to consider then. The object in my hand was
too alluring; the size, the shape too suggestive of a package of
folded bonds for me to think of anything but the satisfaction of my
curiosity and the consequent clearing of a very serious mystery.
Just at this moment, one of intense excitement, I heard, or thought
I heard, a stealthy step behind me. Forcing myself to calmness,
however, I turned and, holding the candle high convinced myself
that I was alone in the cellar.
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