"Yes," I said, "I shall speak to father and Phil about it to-morrow. If any one has been trying to frighten us," I added unguardedly, "by playing tricks, they certainly must be exposed."
"Not us," she corrected, "it was only me," and I did not reply. Why I spoke of the possibility of a trick I scarcely know. I had no hope of any such explanation.
But another strange, almost incredible idea was beginning to take shape in my mind, and with it came a faint, very faint touch of relief. Could it be not the houses, nor the rooms, nor, worst of all, we ourselves that were haunted, but something or things among the old furniture we had bought at Raxtrew?
And lying sleepless that night a sudden flash of illumination struck me—could it—whatever the "it" was—could it have something to do with the tapestry hangings?
The more I thought it over the more striking grew the coincidences. At Finster it had been on one of the closed doors that the shadow seemed to settle, as again here in our own hall. But in both cases the "portières" had hung in front!
And at the Rectory? The tapestry, as Philip had remarked, had been there rolled up all the time. Was it possible that it had never been taken out to the barn at all? What more probable than that it should have been left, forgotten, under the bench where Miss Larpent and I had felt for the second time that hideous cold? And, stay, something else was returning to my mind in connection with that bench. Yes—I had it—Nat had said "it seemed to stop and fumble away in one corner—at the end where there is a bench, you know."
And then to my unutterable thankfulness at last I fell asleep.
PART IV.
I told Philip the next morning. There was no need to bespeak his attention. I think he felt nearly as horrified as I had done myself at the idea that our own hitherto bright, cheerful home was to be haunted by this awful thing—influence or presence, call it what you will. And the suggestions which I went on to make struck him, too, with a sense of relief.
He sat in silence for some time after making me recapitulate as precisely as possible every detail of Sophy's story.