h was
separated from the main one by a slight sliding door, never locked even
at night. As we were almost constantly on a wind, and the breeze was not
a little stiff, the ship heeled to leeward very considerably; and
whenever her starboard side was to leeward the sliding door between the
cabins slid open and so remained, nobody taking the trouble to get up
and shut it. But my berth was in such a position that when my own
stateroom door was open, as well as the sliding door in question (and my
own door was always open on account of the heat), I could see into the
after-cabin quite distinctly, and just at that portion of it, too, where
were situated the staterooms of Mr. Wyatt. Well, during two nights (not
consecutive), while I lay awake, I clearly saw Mrs. W., about eleven
o'clock upon each night, steal cautiously from the stateroom of Mr. W.
and enter the extra room, where she remained until daybreak, when she
was called by her husband and went back. That they were virtually
separated was clear. They had separate apartments, no doubt in
contemplation of a more permanent divorce; and here, after all, I
thought, was the mystery of the extra stateroom.

There was another circumstance, too, which interested me much. During
the two wakeful nights in question, and immediately after the
disappearance of Mrs. Wyatt into the extra stateroom, I was attracted by
certain singular, cautious, subdued noises in that of her husband. After
listening to them for some time with thoughtful attention, I at length
succeeded perfectly in translating their import. They were sounds
occasioned by the artist in prying open the oblong box by means of a
chisel and mallet, the latter being apparently muffled or deadened by
some soft woollen or cotton substance in which its head was enveloped.

In this manner I fancied I could distinguish the precise moment when he
fairly disengaged the lid, also that I could determine when he removed
it altogether, and when he deposited it upon the lower berth in his
room; this latter point I knew, for example, by certain slight taps
which the lid made in striking against the wooden edges of the berth as
he endeavoured to lay it down very gently, there being no room for it on
the floor. After this there was a dead stillness, and I heard nothing
more, upon either occasion, until nearly daybreak; unless, perhaps, I
may mention a low sobbing or murmuring sound, so very much suppressed as
to be nearly inaudible, if, in