There was a chilliness that was not like honest cold, there was a stillness that was not an ordinary silence, and there was an impelling desire in every heart to get out of that room and never return.
But all were game, and when at last Stebbins said, Seen enough? they almost tumbled over one another in a burst of relief at the thought of exit.
The great hall seemed cheerful by contrast, and Landon, in a voice he strove to make matter-of-fact, said, Thank you, Stebbins, you have certainly given us what we asked for.
Yes, sir. Did you notice it, sir?
What?
The smell the odour in that room?
I did, said Eve, I noticed the odour of prussic acid.
Yes, maam, said Stebbins, thats what I meant.
CHAPTER V
Eves Experience
The investigators had investigated for a week. They were now having tea in the great hall, to whose shadowy distances and shabby appointments they had become somewhat accustomed.
Kept up to the mark by the Landons, old Jed Thorpe had developed positive talents as a butler, and with plenty of lamps and candles, and a couple of willing, if ignorant maids, the household machinery ran fairly smoothly. Supplies were procured in East Dryden or sent up from New York markets and by day the party was usually a gay-hearted, merry-mannered country house group.
Every day at tea-time, they recounted any individual experiences that might seem mysterious, and discussed them.
Its this way, Professor Hardwick summed up; the determining factor is the dark. Ghosts and haunted houses are all very well at night, but daylight dispels them as a sound breaks silence.
What about my experience when I slept in the Room with the Tassels, growled Gifford Bruce.
Braye laughed. You queered yourself, Uncle Gif, when you announced before we started, that you were not bound to good faith. Your ghost stories are discounted before you tell em!
But I did see a shape, a shadowy form, like a tall woman with a shawl over her head
You dreamed it, said Milly, smiling at him. Or else
Milly darent say it, laughed Eve, but I will. Or else, you invented the yarn.
If Im to be called a
Tut, tut, Mr. Bruce, intervened Tracy, nobody called you one! Playful prevarication is all right, especially as you warned us youd fool us if you could. Now I can tell an experience and justly expect to be believed.
But you havent had any, and Eves translucent eyes turned to him.
I have, began Tracy, slowly, but theyve been a bit indefinite. Its unsatisfactory to present only an impression or a suggestion, where facts are wanted. And the Professor says truly that hints and haunts are convincing at night, but repeated, at a pleasant, comfortable tea hour, they sound flimsy and unconvincing.
What did you think you saw or heard? asked Norma, with a reminiscent, far-off look in her eyes.
Every morning, or almost every morning, at four oclock, I seem to hear the trailing robes of a presence of some sort. I seem to hear a faint moaning sound, that is like nothing human.
Thats imagination, said Braye, promptly.
It is, doubtless, agreed Hardwick, but it is due to what may be called expectant attention. If we had not connected four oclock with the story of this house, Mr. Tracy would not have those hallucinations at that time.
Perhaps so, the clergyman looked thoughtful. But it seems vivid and real at the time. Then, in the later morning, it is merely a hazy memory.
You know Mr. Stebbins said that every one who died in this house always died at four oclock.
I know he said so, and Braye looked quizzical.
Oh, come now, dont doubt honest old Stebbins! and Eve frowned. We must believe his tales or well never get anywhere. Im going over to East Dryden to see him to-morrow, I want a few more details. And, it seems to me, were getting nowhere, with our imaginations and hallucinations. Now, to-night, Im going to sleep in the Room with the Tassels. Ive no fear of it, and I have a deep and great curiosity.
Oh, let me sleep there with you! Maynt I, Eve? Oh, please let me! Vernie danced about in her eagerness, and knelt before Eve, pleading.
No, Vernie, I forbid it, said her uncle, decidedly. If Miss Carnforth wants to do this thing, I have nothing to say, but you must not, my child. I know you people dont believe me, but I surely saw an apparition the night I slept there, and it was no human trickster. Neither was it hallucination. I was as wideawake as I am now
We know the rest, Uncle Gif, and Braye laughingly interrupted the recital. Stalking ghost, hollow groans, and were there clanking chains?
There were not, but in its shrouded hand the spectre held a glass
Of prussic acid, of which you smelt the strong odour! Yes, I know, but it wont go down, old chap
The prussic acid wont? and Landon chuckled.
Nor the tale either, said the Professor. Its too true. The shawled woman filled the specifications too accurately to seem convincing.
Youre a nice crowd, grumbled Mr. Bruce. Come up here for experiences and then hoot at the first real thing that happens.
All your own fault, retorted Norma. If you hadnt advertised your propensity for fooling us, your word would have carried weight.
All right, let somebody else sleep in that room, then. But not Miss Carnforth. Let one of the men try it.
Thank you, none for me, said Braye. I detest shawled women waking me up at four oclock, to take my poison!
Ill beg off, too, said Tracy. I wake at four every morning anyway, with those aspen boughs shivering against my windows. Id trim them off, but that doesnt seem like playing the game.
Wynne shant sleep there, and that settles that, and Millys grasp on her husbands coat sleeve was evidently sufficiently detaining.
That leaves only me, of the men, asserted the Professor. Im quite willing to sleep in that room. Indeed, I want to. Ive only been waiting till I felt sure of the house, the servants and excuse me, the members of our own party! Now, Ive discovered that the servants quarters can be securely locked off, so that they cannot get in this part of the house; Ive found that the outside doors and the windows can be fastened against all possibility of outside intrusion; and, I shall stipulate that our party shall so congregate in a few rooms, that no one can ahem, haunt my slumbers without some one else knowing it. Ill ask you three young ladies to sleep in one room and allow me to lock you in. Or two adjoining rooms, to which I may hold all keys. Mr. Tracy, Mr. Bruce and Mr. Braye, I shall arrange similarly, while the Landons must also consent to be imprisoned by me. This is the only way I can make a fair test. Will you all agree?
Splendid! cried Eve, of course we will. But, Professor, let me try it first. If you should have a weird experience, it might scare me off, but now I am brave enough. Oh, please, do that! Let me lock you all in your rooms, and let me sleep in the Room with the Tassels to-night! Oh, please say yes, all of you! I must, I must try it! The girl looked like a seeress, as, with glittering eyes and flushed cheeks she plead her cause.
Why, of course, if you want to, Miss Carnforth, said the Professor, looking at her admiringly. Ill be glad to have the benefit of your experience before testing myself. And there is positively no danger. As Ive said, the locks, bolts, and bars are absolutely safe against outside intrusion, or visits from the servants. Though we know they are not to be suspected. And as you are not afraid of the supernatural, I can see no argument against your plan.
Why, of course, if you want to, Miss Carnforth, said the Professor, looking at her admiringly. Ill be glad to have the benefit of your experience before testing myself. And there is positively no danger. As Ive said, the locks, bolts, and bars are absolutely safe against outside intrusion, or visits from the servants. Though we know they are not to be suspected. And as you are not afraid of the supernatural, I can see no argument against your plan.
Suppose I go with you, suggested Norma, her large blue eyes questioning Eve Carnforths excited face.
No, Norma, not this time. I prefer to be alone. Ill lock you and Vernie in your room; Ill lock Milly and Wynne in their room; Ill lock you four men in two rooms, and then, Ill know Ill know that whatever I see or hear is not a fraud or trick of anybody. And I think you can trust me to tell you the truth in the morning.
If theres anything to tell, supplemented Braye. I think, Eve, as to ghosts, youre cutting off your source of supply.
Then well merely prove nothing. But Im determined to try.
Again Vernie begged to be allowed to share Eves experiences, but neither Mr. Bruce, nor Eve herself would consider the childs request.
Every one of us, the Professor said, musingly, has told of hearing mysterious sounds and of seeing mysterious shadows, but, except for Bruces graphic details! all our observations have been vague and uncertain. They may well have been merely imagination. But Miss Carnforth is not imaginative, I mean, not so, to the exclusion of a fair judgment of what her senses experience. Therefore I shall feel, if she sees nothing to-night, that I shall see nothing when I sleep in that room to-morrow night.