"It is strange," he said, as he lingered on the threshold of his room
door for some moments; "my imagination could not so completely deceive
me. There was most certainly a demand for admission." Slowly, then, he returned to his room again, and closed the door behind
him. "One thing is evident," he said, "that if I am in this apartment to be
subjected to these annoyances, I shall get no rest, which will soon
exhaust me." This thought was a very provoking one, and the more he thought that he
should ultimately find a necessity for giving up that chamber he had
himself asked as a special favour to be allowed to occupy, the more
vexed he became to think what construction might be put upon his conduct
for so doing. "They will all fancy me a coward," he thought, "and that I dare not
sleep here. They may not, of course, say so, but they will think that my
appearing so bold was one of those acts of bravado which I have not
courage to carry fairly out." Taking this view of the matter was just the way to enlist a young man's
pride in staying, under all circumstances, where he was, and, with a
slight accession of colour, which, even although he was alone, would
visit his cheeks, Charles Holland said aloud,--

"I will remain the occupant of this room come what may, happen what may. No terrors, real or unsubstantial, shall drive me from it: I will brave
them all, and remain here to brave them." Tap came the knock at the door again, and now, with more an air of
vexation than fear, Charles turned again towards it, and listened. Tap
in another minute again succeeded, and much annoyed, he walked close to
the door, and laid his hand upon the lock, ready to open it at the
precise moment of another demand for admission being made. He had not to wait long. In about half a minute it came again, and,
simultaneously with the sound, the door flew open. There was no one to
be seen; but, as he opened the door, he heard a strange sound in the
corridor--a sound which scarcely could be called a groan, and scarcely a
sigh, but seemed a compound of both, having the agony of the one
combined with the sadness of the other. From what direction it came he
could not at the moment decide, but he called out,--

"Who's there? who's there?" The echo of his own voice alone answered him for a few moments, and then
he heard a door open, and a voice, which he knew to be Henry's, cried,--

"What is it? who speaks?" "Henry," said Charles. "Yes--yes--yes." "I fear I have disturbed you." "You have been disturbed yourself, or you would not have done so. I
shall be with you in a moment." Henry closed his door before Charles Holland could tell him not to come
to him, as he intended to do, for he felt ashamed to have, in a manner
of speaking, summoned assistance for so trifling a cause of alarm as
that to which he had been subjected. However, he could not go to Henry's
chamber to forbid him from coming to his, and, more vexed than before,
he retired to his room again to await his coming. He left the door open now, so that Henry Bannerworth, when he had got on
some articles of dress, walked in at once, saying,--

"What has happened, Charles?" "A mere trifle, Henry, concerning which I am ashamed you should have
been at all disturbed." "Never mind that, I was wakeful." "I heard a door open, which kept me listening, but I could not decide
which door it was till I heard your voice in the corridor." "Well, it was this door; and I opened it twice in consequence of the
repeated taps for admission that came to it; some one has been knocking
at it, and, when I go to it, lo! I can see nobody." "Indeed!" [Illustration]

"Such is the case." "You surprise me." "I am very sorry to have disturbed you, because, upon such a ground, I
do not feel that I ought to have done so; and, when I called out in the
corridor, I assure you it was with no such intention." "Do not regret it for a moment," said Henry; "you were quite justified
in making an alarm on such an occasion." "It's strange enough, but still it may arise from some accidental cause;
admitting, if we did but know it, of some ready enough explanation." "It may, certainly, but, after what has happened already, we may well
suppose a mysterious connexion between any unusual sight or sound, and
the fearful ones we have already seen." "Certainly we may." "How earnestly that strange portrait seems to look upon us, Charles." "It does, and I have been examining it carefully. It seems to have been
removed lately." "Removed!" "Yes, I think, as far as I can judge, that it has been taken from its
frame; I mean, that the panel on which it is painted has been taken
out." "Indeed!" "If you touch it you will find it loose, and, upon a close examination,
you will perceive that a piece of the moulding which holds it in its
place has been chipped off, which is done in such a place that I think
it could only have arisen during the removal of the picture." "You must be mistaken." "I cannot, of course, take upon myself, Henry, to say precisely such is
the case," said Charles. "But there is no one here to do so." "That I cannot say. Will you permit me and assist me to remove it? I
have a great curiosity to know what is behind it." "If you have, I certainly will do so. We thought of taking it away
altogether, but when Flora left this room the idea was given up as
useless. Remain here a few moments, and I will endeavour to find
something which shall assist us in its removal." Henry left the mysterious chamber in order to search in his own for some
means of removing the frame-work of the picture, so that the panel would
slip easily out, and while he was gone, Charles Holland continued gazing
upon it with greater interest, if possible, than before. In a few minutes Henry returned, and although what he had succeeded in
finding were very inefficient implements for the purpose, yet with this
aid the two young men set about the task. It is said, and said truly enough, that "where there is a will there is
a way," and although the young men had no tools at all adapted for the
purpose, they did succeed in removing the moulding from the sides of the
panel, and then by a little tapping at one end of it, and using a knife
at a lever at the other end of the panel, they got it fairly out. Disappointment was all they got for their pains. On the other side there
was nothing but a rough wooden wall, against which the finer and more
nicely finished oak panelling of the chamber rested. "There is no mystery here," said Henry. "None whatever," said Charles, as he tapped the wall with his knuckles,
and found it all hard and sound. "We are foiled." "We are indeed." "I had a strange presentiment, now," added Charles, "that we should make
some discovery that would repay us for our trouble. It appears, however,
that such is not to be the case; for you see nothing presents itself to
us but the most ordinary appearances."