As he lay thus weighed upon rather than pondering, his eye fell on
the bunch of keys which he had taken from the door of the wizard's
chamber, and he wondered that Mrs Courthope had not seen and taken
them--apparently had not missed them. And the chamber doomed to
perpetual desertion lying all the time open to any stray foot! Once
more at least, he must go and turn the key in the lock.
As he went the desire awoke to look again into the chamber, for
that night he had had neither light nor time enough to gain other
than the vaguest impression of it.
But for no lifting of the latch would the door open.--How could
the woman--witch she must be--have locked it? He proceeded to
unlock it. He tried one key, then another. He went over the whole
bunch. Mystery upon mystery!--not one of them would turn. Bethinking
himself, he began to try them the other way, and soon found one to
throw the bolt on. He turned it in the contrary direction, and it
threw the bolt off: still the door remained immovable! It must then
--awful thought!--be fast on the inside! Was the woman's body
lying there behind those check curtains? Would it lie there until
it vanished, like that of the wizard,--vanished utterly--bones
and all, to a little dust, which one day a housemaid might sweep
up in a pan?
On the other hand, if she had got shut in, would she not have
made noise enough to be heard?--he had been day and night in the
next room! But it was not a spring lock, and how could that have
happened? Or would she not have been missed, and inquiry made
after her? Only such an inquiry might well have never turned in the
direction of Lossie House, and he might never have heard of it, if
it had.
Pages:
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435