cted once more! The same cautious tread, the same
sound of the _outer door_ creaking slowly on its hinges--there was
nothing in the least uncanny about it _per se_. It was just the normal
noise that any late comer would make who was thoughtful enough not to
disturb a sleeping house.

But my impatience got the better of my fears this time. I was not going
to be decoyed out of bed a second time on a wild-goose chase. "It must
have been that wardrobe door after all! As to the footsteps, I don't
know and I don't care! The cheap lock must have given way, and I shall
find the wardrobe door has swung open, I am sure."

With this comforting assurance I turned round, and in a few minutes fell
into a deep sleep, after the varied excitements of the night.

Next morning I stepped gaily into the smaller division of the room to
begin my toilet, and triumphantly turned round to convince myself of the
truth of my theory about the wardrobe door. To my infinite astonishment
and perplexity _the wardrobe was securely locked_, just as I had left it
in the middle of the night.

I have never had any explanation of this mystery; but I changed my fine
big room for a much less desirable one that morning, and made some
excuse about wishing for a quieter room at the back of the house.

The next evening, sitting in my new abode with my travelling companion,
she showed far more interest in my adventure than in the Petersburg
tragedy and subsequent vision of mine.

So much so that I invited her to take a pencil and see if she could get
any sort of explanation of the mystery; for although not at all
_intuitive_, she knew something of what is called automatic writing.

I give her narrative, not as being in the slightest degree evidential,
but for its intrinsic interest, and because I am personally convinced
that she had not sufficient imagination to have made it up on the spur
of the moment.

Miss Greenlow's "message" was to the following effect:--

About fifty years previously, a Russian gentleman (an officer, I
_think_, but am not certain of this) and his mistress had occupied this
large front room. The man had spent all day at a rifle competition,
combined with some sort of merry-making, and had returned home very
late--at one-thirty A.M., in fact--very much the worse for drink. He had
opened the door very carefully, trusting he should find the lady asleep;
but, unfortunately, she was not only wide awake, but extremely annoyed
by his late