e
placed arm-chairs for us round the fire. "Here," he added significantly,
"we shall be safe from interruption and can talk securely."

During dinner the manner of the doctor had been all that was natural and
spontaneous, though it was impossible for me, knowing him as I did, not
to be aware that he was subconsciously very keenly alert and already
receiving upon the ultra-sensitive surface of his mind various and vivid
impressions; and there was now something in the gravity of his face, as
well as in the significant tone of Colonel Wragge's speech, and
something, too, in the fact that we three were shut away in this private
chamber about to listen to things probably strange, and certainly
mysterious--something in all this that touched my imagination sharply
and sent an undeniable thrill along my nerves. Taking the chair
indicated by my host, I lit my cigar and waited for the opening of the
attack, fully conscious that we were now too far gone in the adventure
to admit of withdrawal, and wondering a little anxiously where it was
going to lead.

What I expected precisely, it is hard to say. Nothing definite, perhaps.
Only the sudden change was dramatic. A few hours before the prosaic
atmosphere of Piccadilly was about me, and now I was sitting in a secret
chamber of this remote old building waiting to hear an account of things
that held possibly the genuine heart of terror. I thought of the dreary
moors and hills outside, and the dark pine copses soughing in the wind
of night; I remembered my companion's singular words up in my bedroom
before dinner; and then I turned and noted carefully the stern
countenance of the Colonel as he faced us and lit his big black cigar
before speaking.

The threshold of an adventure, I reflected as I waited for the first
words, is always the most thrilling moment--until the climax comes.

But Colonel Wragge hesitated--mentally--a long time before he began. He
talked briefly of our journey, the weather, the country, and other
comparatively trivial topics, while he sought about in his mind for an
appropriate entry into the subject that was uppermost in the thoughts of
all of us. The fact was he found it a difficult matter to speak of at
all, and it was Dr. Silence who finally showed him the way over the
hedge.

"Mr. Hubbard will take a few notes when you are ready--you won't
object," he suggested; "I can give my undivided attention in this way."

"By all means," turning to reach some of