An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|The Strand Magazine (Volume 7).djvu/12}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
"Hush," he said, with a gasp. "Don't go near it—I dread it, I have locked it. It is always in that direction that the apparition appears. The apparition seems to grow out of the glass of the wardrobe. It always appears in that one spot.
"I see," I answered. "The wardrobe is built into the wall. That is the reason it cannot be removed. Have you got the key about you?"
He fumbled in his pocket, and presently produced a bunch of keys.
"I wish you wouldn't open the wardrobe," he said. "I frankly admit that I dislike having it touched."
"All right," I replied. "I will not examine it while you are in the room. You will perhaps allow me to keep the key?"
"Certainly! You can take it from the bunch, if you wish. This is it. I shall be only too glad to have it well out of my own keeping."
"We will go downstairs," I said.
We returned to Sir Henry's library. It was my turn now to lock the door.
"Why do you do that?" he asked.
"Because I wish to be quite certain that no one overhears our conversation."
"What have you got to say?"
"I have a plan to propose to you."
"What is it?"
"I want you to change bedrooms with me to-night."
"What can you mean?—what will Lady Studley say?"
"Lady Studley must know nothing whatever about the arrangement. I think it very likely that the apparition which troubles you will be discovered to have a material foundation. In short, I am determined to get to the bottom of this horror. You have seen it often, and your nerves are much shattered. I have never seen it, and my nerves are, I think, in tolerable order. If I sleep in your room to-night———"
"It may not visit you."
"It may not, but on the other hand it may. I have a curiosity to lie on that bed and to face that wardrobe in the wall. You must yield to my wishes, Sir Henry."
"But how can the knowledge of this arrangement be kept from my wife?"
"Easily enough. You will both go to your rooms as usual. You will bid her good-night as usual, and after the doors of communication are closed I will enter the room and you will go to mine, or to any other that you like to occupy. You say your wife never comes into your room during the hours of the night?"
"She has never yet done so."
"She will not to-night. Should she by any chance call for assistance, I will immediately summon you."
It was very evident that Sir Henry did not like this arrangement. He yielded, however, to my very strong persuasions, which almost took the form of commands, for I saw that I could do nothing unless I got complete mastery over the man.
Lady Studley returned from her drive just as our arrangements were fully made. I had not a moment during all the day to examine the interior of the wardrobe. The sick woman's restlessness grew greater as the hours advanced. She did not care to leave her husband's side. She sat with him as he examined his books. She followed him from room to room. In the afternoon, to
