|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 21
"We moved everything in the room the first night it came," said
Rebecca; "it is not anything in the room."
Caroline turned upon her with a sort of fury. "Of course it is
something in the room," said she. "How you act! What do you mean
by talking so? Of course it is something in the room."
"Of course, it is," agreed Mrs. Brigham, looking at Caroline
suspiciously. "Of course it must be. It is only a coincidence.
It just happens so. Perhaps it is that fold of the window curtain
that makes it. It must be something in the room."
"It is not anything in the room," repeated Rebecca with obstinate
horror.
The door opened suddenly and Henry Glynn entered. He began to
speak, then his eyes followed the direction of the others'. He
stood stock still staring at the shadow on the wall. It was life
size and stretched across the white parallelogram of a door, half
across the wall space on which the picture hung.
"What is that?" he demanded in a strange voice.
"It must be due to something in the room," Mrs. Brigham said
faintly.
"It is not due to anything in the room," said Rebecca again with
the shrill insistency of terror.
"How you act, Rebecca Glynn," said Caroline.
Henry Glynn stood and stared a moment longer. His face showed a
gamut of emotions--horror, conviction, then furious incredulity.
Suddenly he began hastening hither and thither about the room. He
moved the furniture with fierce jerks, turning ever to see the
effect upon the shadow on the wall. Not a line of its terrible
outlines wavered.
"It must be something in the room!" he declared in a voice which
seemed to snap like a lash.
His face changed. The inmost secrecy of his nature seemed evident
until one almost lost sight of his lineaments. Rebecca stood close
to her sofa, regarding him with woeful, fascinated eyes. Mrs.
Brigham clutched Caroline's hand. They both stood in a corner out
of his way. For a few moments he raged about the room like a caged
wild animal. He moved every piece of furniture; when the moving of
a piece did not affect the shadow, he flung it to the floor, the
sisters watching.
Then suddenly he desisted. He laughed and began straightening the
furniture which he had flung down.
"What an absurdity," he said easily. "Such a to-do about a
shadow."
"That's so," assented Mrs. Brigham, in a scared voice which she
tried to make natural. As she spoke she lifted a chair near her.
"I think you have broken the chair that Edward was so fond of,"
said Caroline.
Terror and wrath were struggling for expression on her face. Her
mouth was set, her eyes shrinking. Henry lifted the chair with a
show of anxiety.
"Just as good as ever," he said pleasantly. He laughed again,
looking at his sisters. "Did I scare you?" he said. "I should
think you might be used to me by this time. You know my way of
wanting to leap to the bottom of a mystery, and that shadow does
look--queer, like--and I thought if there was any way of accounting
for it I would like to without any delay."
"You don't seem to have succeeded," remarked Caroline dryly, with a
slight glance at the wall.
Henry's eyes followed hers and he quivered perceptibly.
"Oh, there is no accounting for shadows," he said, and he laughed
again. "A man is a fool to try to account for shadows."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|