white
gown revealed the lines of her languid figure. Her long, tapering hands
were outstretched in a gesture of terror and entreaty. And nothing could
be more mournful than her profile, over which flickered the most
dejected and despairing of smiles.

"A harrowing smile," remarked one of the critics, to whom the others
listened with deference. "A very charming smile, besides; and it reminds
me, Colonel, of the smile of Mme. Sparmiento."

And seeing that the observation seemed to meet with approval, he
enlarged upon his idea:

"There are other points of resemblance that struck me at once, such as
the very graceful curve of the neck and the delicacy of the hands ...
and also something about the figure, about the general attitude...."

"What you say is so true," said the colonel, "that I confess that it was
this likeness that decided me to buy the hangings. And there was another
reason, which was that, by a really curious chance, my wife's name
happens to be Edith. I have called her Edith Swan-neck ever since." And
the colonel added, with a laugh, "I hope that the coincidence will stop
at this and that my dear Edith will never have to go in search of her
true-love's body, like her prototype."

He laughed as he uttered these words, but his laugh met with no echo;
and we find the same impression of awkward silence in all the accounts
of the evening that appeared during the next few days. The people
standing near him did not know what to say. One of them tried to jest:

"Your name isn't Harold, Colonel?"

"No, thank you," he declared, with continued merriment. "No, that's not
my name; nor am I in the least like the Saxon king."

All have since agreed in stating that, at that moment, as the colonel
finished speaking, the first alarm rang from the windows--the right or
the middle window: opinions differ on this point--rang short and shrill
on a single note. The peal of the alarm-bell was followed by an
exclamation of terror uttered by Mme. Sparmiento, who caught hold of her
husband's arm. He cried:

"What's the matter? What does this mean?"

The guests stood motionless, with their eyes staring at the windows. The
colonel repeated:

"What does it mean? I don't understand. No one but myself knows where
that bell is fixed...."

And, at that moment--here again the evidence is unanimous--at that
moment came sudden, absolute darkness, followed immediately by the
maddening din of all the bells and all the gongs, from to