David Lindsay - The Haunted Woman

"But so absurdly shaky!…I remember now. I had a sudden fright. It was horrid, and I was all alone."

"We'll hear about it later; never mind now."

With Isbel's assistance he succeeded in raising her to her feet. She was established in the chair, while the girl set her attire to rights. She started looking round on the floor uneasily.

"There should be a ring on the ground somewhere. Can you see it?"

"It has been picked up," said Isbel shortly.

"Oh!"

"It belongs to me. Can you tell me how it comes to be in this room, Mrs. Richborough?"

"It fell down from the wall. I did not know it was yours."

Judge and Isbel exchanged glances.

"How do you mean 'it fell down from the wall'?"

"It does sound stupid, but so it happened. That's what frightened me. It seemed to tumble on to the middle of the floor, from nowhere at all."

"But you said from the wall. Which wall?"

Mrs. Richborough turned weakly in her chair, and pointed behind her. "That wall. Where the stairs were previously. It rolled on to the floor, and I was just going to pick it up when I must have fainted."

"But what stairs are you alluding to?" asked Judge.

She smiled, closed her eyes, and was silent for a moment.

"How can I explain? It sounds incredible, but I saw a flight of stairs in the middle of that wall, ascending out of sight. I actually went up them-or could I have dreamt it all? I'm afraid my mind is all upside-down this afternoon."

Isbel coughed dryly, and glanced at her watch. Judge again pressed his flask on the widow.

"I won't, thanks. My heart is scarcely in a state to stand over-stimulation. If you could help me, I think I could make my way downstairs. That would be best for everybody."

Judge offered her his arm. On getting outside, he shut and locked the door of the room, putting the key in his pocket.

"You had better lead the way, Miss Loment. Take my torch."

Slowly and with frequent pauses, they passed through the corridor and descended the stairs to the hall. Judge was about to proceed outside, but Mrs. Richborough asked to be allowed to sit down, to recover her strength.

"Tell me," she said, after a minute, "Where did you both get to? I can't understand what happened."

"Perhaps we have been where you have been, Mrs. Richborough," replied Isbel coldly.

"Oh!…Do you mean that? Are you pretending you saw those extraordinary stairs, too?"

"Unless they were a figment of your brain, why should not we have seen them? As a matter of fact-I don't speak for Mr. Judge-I did see them, and went up them."

"I, too," said Judge.

"Then we are either all mad together, or something very strange has taken place. Possibly you can tell me where thy led to?"

"No; my memory is a blank, till I came down again."

"And you, Mr. Judge?"

"I also remember nothing."

Mrs. Richborough suddenly lost colour, and her breathing grew difficult. She recovered herself by a violent effort.

"You must both have gone up before me, and come down after me. How was that? And how did your ring come to fall down out of the wall? A ring doesn't escape from one's finger of its own accord."

"I cannot answer the conundrum." Isbel's face was like granite.

"If I were an engaged girl I should not like such a thing to happen to me. Have you no idea how it could have happened?"

"No."

"It's very, very strange." Mrs. Richborough essayed a laugh. "If it did not sound absolutely insane, one might almost suppose you had been playing pitch-and-toss with it."

Isbel went white to the lips, but she said nothing.

"You take it very calmly," proceeded the widow. "Let us hope that Mr. Stokes, when he hears…"

"Please hold your tongue, Mrs. Richborough! It has nothing whatever to do with you. I've not even told you that it is his ring. You are taking a very great deal for granted."

"You only wore one ring at lunch, my dear, and that was on the third finger of your left hand."

"Very well-then it is my engagement ring. What of it? Must I ask your permission before accidentally losing it?"

"I assure you I haven't the slightest wish to interfere in your affairs; still sometimes the advice of an older woman…"

"Oh, advice! …Well, what do you advise?"

"I think it is only good sense to try and find out something more about it. Let us assume that the explanation is supernatural …"-she looked up with a malicious half-smile-"or can you account for it in some other way?"

"I have already told you that I can't account for it. If you have any useful suggestion to make, please be quick about it."

"I suggest that we all come over here again in the morning and pursue the investigation. I cannot see what else there is to do."

"Why should you trouble to come again because I have mysteriously lost and found a ring?"

"Because I wish to," responded Mrs. Richborough, coolly.

"And if I refuse?"

"I shall assume that you consider my society undesirable."

"And…?"

"And act accordingly."

Isbel opened her bag to take out her handkerchief. In doing so, she encountered among it's miscellaneous contents a strange envelope. The light in the hall, though fast fading, was still sufficiently strong to read by, and she drew the letter out to see what it was.

It was addressed to Mrs. Richborough.

She turned it about in a puzzled manner. "This appears to be your property. How it comes to be reposing in my bag I have no idea."

The widow took it almost rudely.

"It certainly is mine. There's no letter inside-you haven't that inside your bag, I suppose?" She searched hurriedly in her own. "It's all right-I have it myself. I'm sorry. But what in the world are you doing with the envelope?"

"There's nothing written on it, by any chance?" suggested Judge thoughtfully.

Mrs. Richborough turned it over to see the back.

"Yes, there is. What led you to inquire?"

"If it's nothing personal, do you mind my looking?"

"I can't make head or tail of it. It's music." She handed it up to Judge, who gazed at it for some moments with a kind of uneasy rumination. Isbel looked over his shoulder.

"I only got that letter by this morning's post, so those notes must have been added since. Who did it?"

Isbel gave an icy smile. "We needn't stare at each other so suspiciously. Its sufficiently obvious what has happened. You wrote it yourself upstairs, Mrs. Richborough, and I picked it up and brought it down with me."

"You really think that?"

"I'm convinced of it."

"Then all I can say is we're living in the land of dreams!"…Continuing to gaze at the back of the envelope, she started to whistle softly through the roughly-written notes of music. The others listened intently. The tune was unrecognisable, yet there was something strangely perplexing in it. It broke off abruptly in the middle; there was no more written down. They stole questioning glances at each other.

The gloom of the hall deepened…Suddenly, the fragment of air which Mrs. Richborough had just whistled was repeated by a distant stringed instrument, which seemed to possess very much the vibrating timbre and deep register of a double bass. It continued to carry the theme to its proper ending. The sound appeared to come from a very long way off, for though quite clear it was extraordinarily faint; it gave them the impression of being high over their heads, but, for all that, seemed to belong to the house…it lasted for littler longer than a minute, then everything went back to silence.

Judge stood looking as though he were still unable to grasp what had happened, Isbel's white face bore a peculiar smile, but Mrs. Richborough was obliged to take deep and rapid breaths to prevent herself from swooning again. She sat erect in her chair, holding on to the arms.