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Page 11
CHAPTER II
AN EXPERIMENT
Ernest Travers, Felix Fayre-Michell, Tom May, and Colonel Vane
followed Sir Walter upstairs to a great corridor, which ran the
length of the main front, and upon which opened a dozen bedrooms
and dressing-rooms. They proceeded to the eastern extremity. It
was lighted throughout, and now their leader took off an electric
bulb from a sconce on the wall outside the room they had come to
visit.
"There is none in there," he explained, "though the light was
installed in the Grey Room as elsewhere when I started my own plant
twenty years ago. My father never would have it. He disliked it
exceedingly, and believed it aged the eyes."
Henry arrived with the key. The door was unlocked, and the light
established. The party entered a large and lofty chamber with
ceiling of elaborate plaster work and silver-grey walls, the paper
on which was somewhat tarnished. A pattern of dim, pink roses as
large as cabbages ran riot over it. A great oriel window looked
east, while a smaller one opened upon the south. Round 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 were doubtfully worth his labors. Two
large chests of drawers, with rounded bellies, and a very beautiful
washing-stand also occupied places round the room, and against the
inner wall rose a single, fourposter bed of Spanish chestnut, also
carved. A grey, self-colored carpet covered the floor, and on one
of the chests stood a miniature bronze copy of the Faun of
Praxiteles.
The apartment was bright and cheerful of aspect. Nothing gloomy
or depressing marked it, nor a suggestion of the sinister.
"Could one wish for a more amiable looking room?" asked
Fayre-Michell.
They gazed round them, and Ernest Travers expressed admiration at
the old furniture.
"My dear Walter, why hide these things here?" he asked. "They are
beautiful, and may be valuable, too."
"I've been asked the same question before," answered the owner.
"And they are valuable. Lord Bolsover offered me a thousand
guineas for those two chairs; but the things are heirlooms in a
sort of way, and I shouldn't feel justified in parting with them.
My grandfather was furniture mad--spent half his time collecting
old stuff on the Continent. Spain was his happy hunting ground."
"It's positively a shame to doom these chairs to a haunted room,
uncle," declared Henry.
But the other shook his head and smothered a yawn.
"The house is too full as it is." he said.
"Mary wants you to scrap dozens of things," replied his nephew.
"Then there'd be plenty of room."
"You'll do what you please when your turn comes, and no doubt cast
out my tusks and antlers and tiger-skins, which I know you don't
admire. Wait in patience, Henry. And we will now go to bed,"
answered the elder. "I am fatigued, and it must be nearly midnight."
Then Tom May brought their thoughts back to the reason of the visit.
"Look here, governor," he said. "It's a scandal to give a champion
room like this a bad name and shut it up. You've fallen into the
habit, but you know it's all nonsense. 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 again
and announce it is forgiven without a stain on its character.
You've just said you don't believe spooks have the power to hurt
anybody. Then let me turn in here."
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