have thought so had I known what was still to be revealed to
me before the dawn of another day, and in the months that
followed, during which that house and its echoing groves
were my home. And I sometimes ask myself, in the light of
later events of which that visit was indirectly the cause,
whether, had I been able to foresee them, I would still have
persevered in my purpose to know the secrets of my uncle's
house?



CHAPTER IV


A long time I stood waiting for some reply to my message. My
candle was fast burning out, and I began to fear that after
all I was likely to leave the house no wiser than when I had
entered it. Suddenly a door swung on its creaking hinges and
a feeble old man, holding a lamp in one hand, stood grinning
at me in the opening. It was the same face that I saw
before, but it seemed less ghostly and unnatural now.
Stepping back he beckoned me to enter. As soon as I had
crossed the threshold the door closed behind me and the old
man carefully bolted it. I stood in a large room, richly
furnished, of which spiders had apparently long held
possession. Great cobwebs hung like hammocks from the
ceiling, and the dust of years had settled over all. Two
human skeletons completely wrapped in cobwebs, stood facing
me against the opposite wall. Following my silent leader, I
went through a long narrow passage, at the end of which was