ient reason. It
was paneled with oak far above our heads, and as the walls above had
become gray with smoke, there was absolutely no color in the room, not
even in the hangings of the gaunt four-poster that loomed dreary and
repelling from one end of the room. For here, as elsewhere, time had
been at work, and tints that were once bright enough had gradually been
subdued by dust and smoke into one uniform dimness. The floor was black,
the fireplace empty, the walls without a picture, and yet it was neither
from this grayness nor from this barrenness that one recoiled. It was
from something else--something that went deeper than the lack of charm
or color--something that clung to the walls like a contagion and caught
at the heart-strings where they are weakest, smothering hope and
awakening horror, till in each faded chair a ghost seemed sitting,
gazing at you with immovable eyes that could tell tales, but would not.

There was but one window in the room, and that looked toward the west.
But the light that should have entered there was frightened, also, and
halted on the ledge without, balked by the thick curtains that heavily
enshrouded it. A haunted chamber! or so it appeared at that moment to my
somewhat excited fancy, and for the first time in my life, here, I felt
a dread of my own house, and experienced the uncanny sensation of some
one walking over my grave.

But I soon recovered myself. Nothing of a disagreeable nature had ever
happened in this room, nor had we had any special reason for shutting it
up, except that it was in an out-of-the-way place, and not usually
considered convenient, notwithstanding Mr. Urquhart's opinion to the
contrary.

"Never mind," said I, with a last effort to soothe the agitated woman.
"We will let in a little light, and dissipate some of these shadows."
And I attempted to throw back the curtains of the window, but they fell
again immediately and I experienced a sensation as of something ghostly
passing between us and the light.

Provoked at my own weakness, I tore the curtains down and flung them
into a corner. A straggling beam of sunset color came in, but it looked
out of place and forlorn upon that black floor, like a stranger who
meets with no welcome. The poor young wife seemed to hail it, however,
for she moved instantly to where it lay and stood as if she longed for
its warmth and comfort. I immediately glanced at the fireplace.

"I will soon have a rousing fire for you," I