as straightforward and direct. I saw him in a
flash: puzzled, worried, harassed into a state of alarm by something he
could not comprehend; forced to deal with things he would have preferred
to despise, yet facing it all with dogged seriousness and making no
attempt to conceal that he felt secretly ashamed of his incompetence.

"So I cannot offer you much entertainment beyond that of my own company,
and the queer business that has been going on here, and is still going
on," he said, with a slight inclination of the head towards me by way of
including me in his confidence.

"I think, Colonel Wragge," replied John Silence impressively, "that we
shall none of us find the time hangs heavy. I gather we shall have our
hands full."

The two men looked at one another for the space of some seconds, and
there was an indefinable quality in their silence which for the first
time made me admit a swift question into my mind; and I wondered a
little at my rashness in coming with so little reflection into a big
case of this incalculable doctor. But no answer suggested itself, and to
withdraw was, of course, inconceivable. The gates had closed behind me
now, and the spirit of the adventure was already besieging my mind with
its advance guard of a thousand little hopes and fears.

Explaining that he would wait till after dinner to discuss anything
serious, as no reference was ever made before his sister, he led the way
upstairs and showed us personally to our rooms; and it was just as I was
finishing dressing that a knock came at my door and Dr. Silence entered.

He was always what is called a serious man, so that even in moments of
comedy you felt he never lost sight of the profound gravity of life, but
as he came across the room to me I caught the expression of his face
and understood in a flash that he was now in his most grave and earnest
mood. He looked almost troubled. I stopped fumbling with my black tie
and stared.

"It is serious," he said, speaking in a low voice, "more so even than I
imagined. Colonel Wragge's control over his thoughts concealed a great
deal in my psychometrising of the letter. I looked in to warn you to
keep yourself well in hand--generally speaking."

"Haunted house?" I asked, conscious of a distinct shiver down my back.

But he smiled gravely at the question.

"Haunted House of Life more likely," he replied, and a look came into
his eyes which I had only seen there when a human soul was in the toil