The Argosy | Page 4

or three
times every year Mr. Winter, Sir Mark's lawyer, comes over to Deepley
Walls to satisfy himself by ocular proof that Sir John's instructions are
being duly carried out. This he has a legal right to do in the interests of
his client. Sometimes he is conducted to this room by Lady Chillington,
sometimes by me; but even in his case her ladyship will not relax her
rule of not having the room visited by day."
Sister Agnes then showed Janet that behind the black draperies there
was a cupboard in the wall, which on being opened proved to contain a
quantity of large candles. One by one Sister Agnes took out of the
silver tripods what remained of the candles of the previous day, and
filled up their places with fresh ones. Janet looked on attentively. Then,
for the second time, Sister Agnes knelt on the prie-dieu for a few
moments, and then she and Janet left the room.
Next day Sister Agnes was so ill, and Janet pressed so earnestly to be
allowed to attend to the Black Room in place of her, and alone, that she
was obliged to give a reluctant consent.
It was not without an inward tremor that Janet heard the clock strike
twelve. Sister Agnes had insisted on accompanying her part of the way
upstairs, and would, in fact, have gone the whole distance with her, had

not Janet insisted on going forward alone. In a single breath, as it
seemed to her, she ran up the remaining stairs, unlocked the door, and
entered the room. Her nerves were not sufficiently composed to allow
of her making use of the prie-dieu. All she cared for just then was to
get through her duty as quickly as possible, and return in safety to the
world of living beings downstairs. She set her teeth, and by a supreme
effort of will went through the small duty that was required of her
steadily but swiftly. Her face was never turned away from the coffin the
whole time; and when she had finished her task she walked backwards
to the door, opened it, walked backwards out, and in another breath was
downstairs, and safe in the protecting arms of Sister Agnes.
Next night she insisted upon going entirely alone, and made so light of
the matter that Sister Agnes no longer opposed her wish to make the
midnight visit to the Black Room a part of her ordinary duty. But
inwardly Janet could never quite overcome her secret awe of the room
and its silent occupant. She always dreaded the coming of the hour that
took her there, and when her task was over, she never closed the door
without a feeling of relief. In this case, custom with her never bred
familiarity. To the last occasion of her going there she went the prey of
hidden fears--fears of she knew not what, which she derided to herself
even while they made her their victim. There was a morbid thread
running through the tissue of her nerves, which by intense force of will
might be kept from growing and spreading, but which no effort of hers
could quite pluck out or eradicate.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE DAWN OF LOVE.
Major Strickland did not forget his promise to Janet. On the eighth
morning after his return from London he walked over from Eastbury to
Deepley Walls, saw Lady Chillington, and obtained leave of absence
for Miss Hope for the day. Then he paid a flying visit to Sister Agnes,
for whom he had a great reverence and admiration, and ended by
carrying off Janet in triumph.

The park of Deepley Walls extends almost to the suburbs of Eastbury, a
town of eight thousand inhabitants, but of such small commercial
importance that the nearest railway station is three miles away across
country and nearly five miles from Deepley Walls.
Major Strickland no longer resided at Rose Cottage, but at a pretty little
villa just outside Eastbury. Some small accession of fortune had come
to him by the death of a relative; and an addition to his family in the
person of Aunt Félicité, a lady old and nearly blind, the widow of a
kinsman of the Major. Besides its tiny lawn and flower-beds in front,
the Lindens had a long stretch of garden ground behind, otherwise the
Major would scarcely have been happy in his new home. He was
secretary to the Eastbury Horticultural Society, and his fame as a
grower of prize roses and geraniums was in these latter days far sweeter
to him than any fame that had ever accrued to him as a soldier.
Janet found Aunt Félicité a most quaint and charming old lady, as
cheerful and full of vivacity as many a girl of seventeen. She