reat chair before the oaken table, I unlocked the casket.
It contained many pages closely written in my father's hand. In them
were instructions as to my future conduct, my care of Rougemont, what he
had done and what he expected me to do. But the lines that interested me
most were these:

"_I bought Rougemont for your mother, shortly after your birth, because
when riding through this country, she saw and loved it. It was a
purchase that cost me dear. For Rougemont held a curse and an avenging
spirit in the form of a beautiful young girl who could not bear to see
others' happiness. So my wife died._

"_Two months after your mother's death, I first saw la belle Helene. We
fought a long battle, she and I, but I was strong, my son, because I
loved your mother. No other woman's charms could lure me to my doom.
Finally I made a bargain with a ghost._

"_She hated modern things and longed for Rougemont to be great again. I
promised to restore the chateau to its former splendor, to make it just
as it had been in her days, and in return she promised immunity to me,
and afterward to you, and to all my court when I should have established
it._

"_I restored Rougemont. I repeopled it. With her help and advice, I have
made it as it was in her own day._

"_She showed me the hidden treasure vaults of the d'Harcourts so that I
would have enough money to purchase the things she wanted._

"_She too has kept her bargain, for I and my court have lived happily
here unmolested. Only when an outsider came or someone disobeyed or
longed for the outside world, has she wreaked vengeance._

"_She has sworn to give you the kiss that promises immunity, the night
you come. Only, beware, my son, whom you bring here from the world you
know, and beware of the lovely Helene. Old man as I am, devoted to your
mother's memory as I am, she can still make my pulses leap._

"_Above all things, if she shows you the Lost Door, do not be tempted to
cross its threshold, for that way, unless you are the reincarnation of
the Englishman, annihilation lies._"

There was more, pages more, of other matters, but I left them for
another day. Alone there in the library, I let my eyes wander to where
the little Gothic door had been.

Had Wrexler been the Englishman come back to earth to claim his bride?
Could that account for the strange, unsatisfied longings he had always
had, his unearthly feelings, his unlikeness to other people? Or was he
Black George, lur