d dismay--doomed
to drink the wine cup and throw the dice till the dawning of the Great
Judgment Day."[21]

Another explanation of the mystery is that during one of the feuds
between the Lindsays and the Ogilvies, a number of the latter Clan,
flying from their enemies, came to Glamis Castle, and begged
hospitality of the owner. He admitted them, and on the plea of hiding
them, he secured them all in this room, and then left them to starve.
Their bones, it is averred, lie there to this day, the sight of which,
it has been stated, so appalled the late Lord Strathmore on entering
the room, that he had it walled up. Some assert that, owing to some
hereditary curse, like those described in a previous chapter, at
certain intervals a kind of vampire is born into the family of the
Strathmore Lyons, and that as no one would like to destroy this
monstrosity, it is kept concealed till its term of life is run. But,
whatever the mystery may be, such rooms, like the locked chamber of
Blue Beard, are not open to vulgar gaze, a circumstance which has
naturally perpetuated the curiosity attached to them. The reputation,
too, which Glamis Castle has long had for possessing so strange a room
has led to a host of the most gruesome stories being circulated in
connection with it, many of which from time to time have appeared in
print. According to one account,[22] "a lady, very well known in
London society, an artistic and social celebrity, went to stay at
Glamis Castle for the first time. She was allotted very handsome
apartments just on the point of junction between the new
buildings--perhaps a hundred or two hundred years old--and the very
ancient part of the castle. The rooms were handsomely furnished; no
grim tapestry swung to and fro, all was smooth, easy, and modern, and
the guest retired to bed without a thought of the mysteries of Glamis.
In the morning she appeared at the breakfast table cheerful and
self-possessed, and, to the inquiry how she had slept, replied, "Well,
thanks, very well, up to four o'clock in the morning. But your
Scottish carpenters seem to come to work very early. I suppose they
are putting up their scaffolding quickly, though, for they are quiet
now."

Her remarks were followed by a dead silence, and, to her surprise, she
noticed that the faces of the family party were very pale. But, she
was asked, as she valued the friendship of all there, never to speak
on that subject again, there had been no carpenters