H. B. Marriott Watson

“ But ghosts do not stumble on stairs; and that was what had happened. Nor do ghosts carry pencils, so far as I know, and it was a pencil I picked up. Jackman had spoken of the old staircase, and now I nearly ran into it. It rose to the first floor from an ante-chamber, behind the morning-room, and I almost caught the pencil, as it rolled from stone to stone. It was the second time that pencil had been dropped, I was sure, for the same clink saluted my ears. ”

“ Mrs. Jackman made an approach to conversing; Jackman could only answer. But it was the woman's opportunity, and she made the most of it. I learned, among other things, that she rejoiced Sir Gilbert had let at last; that the house had not been kept up for years, not since Sir Edmund died; that Sir Gilbert had been a stranger to it since he was a boy; that Jackman and she had lived in London a good deal in Sir Gilbert's service; and that Sir Gilbert was twenty-nine and unmarried. I gathered on the way through this that any princess would be fortunate if she should be chosen by Sir Gilbert. ”

“ The drive trailed in a pleasant old-fashioned sweep through limes of immemorial age, and entered, after a brief but glorious career of this kind, a shrubbery of rhododendrons in full bud, of laurels, of fragrant syringas, and of opening lilac. The cloud of shrubbery made a little darkness of the twilight; and then we came out into the open again, where the sward, studded with trees, led down towards the sea. ”

“ CHAPTER I THE BOOK IN THE GALLERY IT was on the evening of the fifth of May, just before the day had fully declined into twilight, that I got my first sight of Norroy Castle. I had taken a fly at the distant station of Arncombe, and, to the accompaniment of the friendly driver's gossip, had rattled along the country roads and down the little inlet for a few miles to Southington, when we made almost a full right wheel and began to climb the hill. ”

“ It was not quite true that he could not be in the library, but it was certainly true that he might be in one of a dozen places. Four doors opened from the corridor towards the front of the Castle, and here were as many hiding-places as rooms. I was conscious of Jackman panting behind me, and then I gained the library. The door was wide open, giving promise of the quarry; and the first gleam of the candle on the walls told me where I was. It was a long chamber, stretching, I gathered, along the whole reach of the west wing on this floor ”

“ There was the sound of a match crackling, and a spurt of fire issued from Jackman's fingers. "Why, man, you have matches!" I cried.
"Just got them from the mantelpiece, sir," he explained. He lit my candle, and we surveyed each other.
"It's no go, Jackman," I said with resignation. "We 're done. By the way, what is kept in the strong room."
"The family plate, sir, and the gold service presented to Sir Craven in 1772, and the Norroy jewels."
"Ah!" I said significantly. "Well, we are not worth much as detectives, Jackman, and I think we may take it our man has vanished, and go to bed." ”

“ I traced my way along the passage until I came to a door which must have admitted us on our backward journey. Beyond was the staircase for certain, winding upward. But what interested me more was another door, fronting the staircase; and this I examined. To my surprise it was unlocked, and when I turned the handle, a rush of cool air streamed in. My light glimmered on the gravel of the courtyard. This door gave access to the safe and empty night.
It was plain at last how the burglar had escaped. I locked the door and went back to my room ”

“ Migration is unsettling to the mind, which settles down with reluctance after the disturbance of its roots. A mass of papers, inserted at the last moment in this particular bag, turned itself out on the carpet, and an illustrated weekly took my eye. ”

“ Jackman entered at the moment to inquire if I needed anything more that night, and I tackled him.
"Yes, sir," he said, with his punctilious interval of pause, as if he would make sure I had done talking. "The library is up-stairs, sir, left wing—over your rooms, sir. The picture-gallery and library are one."
I love old libraries ”

“ Jackman prepared the west wing rooms, sir, in case you should want them."
"Weil, I 'll have a look round," I said amiably. "Meanwhile this will do very well. What's off that way?"
"There's a morning-room giving to the garden, sir," said he, "and the old staircase to the first floor."
"And my bedroom?" I inquired.
"Mrs. Jackman prepared the west wing rooms, sir," he repeated respectfully. "I thought you might like them all handy. They 're on the ground floor together." ”

“ I thought, and laughed. Why, it was only so that Romance got her chance; it was dull reason that went jog-trot through a humdrum life. As well be chained to a desk, as well keep your stall in the Augean stable of full cities, as well—
My mind, poising on the wings of this fine welcome, had got thus far, when the driver's voice broke upon its raptures.
"Sir Gilbert—he hasn't been down here since he was a boy; has n't been here since he came in for the title. Can't abide it, they say. It's dull for him, maybe, after London."
I think he was still speculating in his slow mind if I were a tourist ”