The Master of Silence | Page 8

above
the earth, only to lose my foothold and slide down again. Finally, by
exerting all my strength, I succeeded in supporting myself with the
edge of my boot upon a crossbar about half way up; then, taking a
small rope from my pocket I threw one end of it over the gate, holding
the other in my teeth. Tying it securely by a noose I climbed hand over
hand to the top and then let myself down on the other side. I was quite
exhausted by the effort (unaccustomed as I was to such burglarious
enterprises) and my fingers were torn and bleeding from forcing a hold
between the iron work and the wire screen. I remembered the gravel
pathway, overgrown with grass, that led from the big gate to a front
door. I groped about in the darkness until I felt the gravel under my feet.
Then I moved cautiously along it, until I could dimly discern the
outlines of the house. My nerves were so wrought up, while I stood
there holding my breath to catch some sound from its gloomy interior,
that I was near crying out in abject terror at every step. An owl, startled
from the limb of a tree over my head, flew lazily into the upper air and
across the thicket, disturbing other birds that set up a chattering protest.
Stealthily I crept from window to window, but the blinds were closed
fast. Finally I came to a door that seemed to open into the main part of
the building. Desperate under the strain to which my nerves had been
subjected, I knocked loudly on its upper panels. The sound echoed
through the still house and the thickly wooded grounds around it. "God
help me!" I whispered; "will that echo never cease?" It kept repeating
itself from tree to tree, until I covered my ears to stop its weird

reverberations. Then I heard a low threatening sound, deep and
resonant as the lower tones of a great organ, that gradually grew louder
until its volume filled the air, and then died away, while its echoes went
chasing each other among the trees. In the silence which followed, my
ear caught another sound the like of which I had never heard before. A
dozen clocks being wound by quick turns on all sides of me would, I
fancy, have produced a similar effect. It was evident to me that my
knocking had disturbed my uncle's pets, but I was not to be frightened
away. Hearing no movement in the house I tried the door, and to my
astonishment it swung open. A peculiar odor, such as one notices in a
house that has long stood empty, came to my nostrils, and again I heard
that fateful whirring, but in the darkness I could discern no object. As I
crossed the threshold the sound grew louder, and to my horror the door
closed suddenly behind me. Hurriedly striking a match, I held it above
my head and peered about me. Its light revealed a small apartment
finished in polished wood. Along the angle of the floor was an opening,
two or three inches high, into the side walls. And half way up the wall
in front of me I saw a face--the face of a maniac it seemed to be--pale
and wan, with strange, inhuman eyes. I had scarcely glanced at it when
the match dropped from my fingers and fell slowly through the air,
going out as it struck the floor. My hands were cold, but so wet with
perspiration that they stuck to my clothing when I felt for a candle
which I had brought with me.
There are moments in every man's life that move slowly, as if carrying
the weight of years upon their backs. I shall never cease to believe that
the few seconds it took me to light that candle must stand for as many
years in any correct reckoning of my age. When its beams at last
illumined the room, the strange face was still there. Had I seen it before?
It was marvellously like that other face which had haunted my dreams
so long. If it was the face of a man he must be standing on the other
side of the wall and looking through a panel.
"Is Mr. Lane at home?" I asked in an unnatural tone that startled me.
But no word of reply was spoken.
"I am his nephew and I have important news for him."

The face disappeared for a moment, and presently a shrunken hand,
holding a white sheet of paper, was extended through the opening. I
stepped forward, took the sheet and, withdrawing to the centre of the
room, sat down upon the floor and wrote the following message in bold