He did not hear me. As he looked into her eyes, he might have been a
bird charmed by a snake. Nothing could break through the spell that
bound him.

They were nearer the door. Each second brought them closer to it. Now
Helene was on the other side. The golden mist concentrated upon her,
until she looked like a goddess in its eery light.

"Wrexler! Wrexler!" The words tore through my throat.

Wrexler stepped over the threshold. Through the golden mist I saw him
clasp Helene in his arms again. I saw her smile triumphantly at me, as
she raised her lips to his. There was something in her eyes that filled
me with horror.

The mist swirled about them until I could barely discover the outlines
of their figures through its gleaming haze. Then the door swung slowly
shut.

I awoke to feverish activity. "Wrexler! Wrexler!" I shouted and rushed
forward to the door.

I grasped the iron ring that hung in its center. I pulled on it with all
my might. When I found that it resisted all my efforts I began beating
against the door itself. Presently I felt myself being pulled away.

"There is no use, my lord," de Lacy's voice was saying. "The door is
gone."

"Gone!" I ejaculated, and even as I spoke I saw what he meant. The north
wall of the library was lined with books as it always had been. I had
been beating upon them impotently.

I looked down at my hands; the knuckles were raw and bleeding, just as
they would have been from pounding on a heavily carved wooden door. De
Lacy caught my meaning. "The door was there, my lord. It was the lost
door--the door behind which Black George buried Helene d'Harcourt. It
had been lost for centuries."

I sank into a chair, weakly, for now the fact that I had lost Wrexler,
my friend, was paramount. "I will tear down the walls until I find it."

"That has been done, my lord, and it has never been found. It will never
be found again. Only for a brief moment you and I have been granted a
glimpse of something we can not understand."

"And Wrexler----" I groaned.

"He was happy," de Lacy comforted. "No matter what happened after, he
has had happiness such as I have never seen before."

My head pitched forward and I knew no more.

* * * * *

Three days later, I was escorted to the library by de Lacy, to whom
since Wrexler's loss I was more devoted than ever. With great ceremony I
was given the key to the gilded casket, then left alone.

Seated in the g