wild, barbaric note. A great oak
staircase led to the upper floors.

'We must go through all the rooms,' said Arthur.

He did not expect to find Haddo till they came to the lighted attics, but
it seemed needful nevertheless to pass right through the house on their
way. A flash of his torch had shown him that the walls of the hall were
decorated with all manner of armour, ancient swords of Eastern handiwork,
barbaric weapons from central Africa, savage implements of medieval
warfare; and an idea came to him. He took down a huge battle-axe and
swung it in his hand.

'Now come.'

Silently, holding their breath as though they feared to wake the dead,
they went into the first room. They saw it difficultly with their scant
light, since the thin shaft of brilliancy, emphasising acutely the
surrounding darkness, revealed it only piece by piece. It was a large
room, evidently unused, for the furniture was covered with holland, and
there was a mustiness about it which suggested that the windows were
seldom opened. As in many old houses, the rooms led not from a passage
but into one another, and they walked through many till they came back
into the hall. They had all a desolate, uninhabited air. Their sombreness
was increased by the oak with which they were panelled. There was
panelling in the hall too, and on the stairs that led broadly to the
top of the house. As they ascended, Arthur stopped for one moment and
passed his hand over the polished wood.

'It would burn like tinder,' he said.

They went through the rooms on the first floor, and they were as empty
and as cheerless. Presently they came to that which had been Margaret's.
In a bowl were dead flowers. Her brushes were still on the toilet table.
But it was a gloomy chamber, with its dark oak, and, so comfortless that
Susie shuddered. Arthur stood for a time and looked at it, but he said
nothing. They found themselves again on the stairs and they went to the
second storey. But here they seemed to be at the top of the house.

'How does one get up to the attics?' said Arthur, looking about him with
surprise.

He paused for a while to think. Then he nodded his head.

'There must be some steps leading out of one of the rooms.'

They went on. And now the ceilings were much lower, with heavy beams,
and there was no furniture at all. The emptiness seemed to make
everything more terrifying. They felt that they were on the threshold
of a great mystery, and Susie's heart