388 THE IMAGE OF WAE 



The room was lighted, and I held a loaded pistol iu 

 my hand ; but in spite of it I felt such a feeling of 

 horror that I broke out into a cold perspiration. 

 Turning to my wife, I saw on her face that deathly 

 and drawn look a woman's face assumes when her 

 senses are leaving her. 



" For God's sake, pull yourself together," I cried. 

 " There must be some simple reason for all this." 



I don't think that my remarks would have done 

 much good if, fortunately, the sounds had not 

 ceased. My wife, who, I may record, has never 

 fainted in her life, has always said that, if they 

 had not, she was sure she would have collapsed 

 then. 



Not to make my story too long, I may say that the 

 same thing occurred nightly for about ten days. The 

 phenomena presented no variety, except that sometimes 

 the sound would begin faintly, as if at some distance 

 — in the dressing-room, it seemed — and then gradually 

 approach and become louder till it terminated with 

 the usual unearthly bellow just outside the door. 

 We got more or less used to it, and having 

 arranged a spare mattress inside the door so as 

 partly to deaden the sound — even managed to sleep 

 it out. 



As I have said, it continued ten nights or so — and 

 then stopped. For a week we heard nothing, and just 

 as we were beginning to congratulate ourselves we 

 had done with it, it began again, and occurred on and 

 off till some time into March. We left Luxemburg 

 at the end of that month, and at that time had heard 

 nothing for a fortnight. 



The sound I have mentioned was not the only 

 entirely unaccountable thing that occurred in the 



