We questioned her regarding her symptoms, and found them exactly similar to those we had ourselves experienced. "I felt as though my whole body were frozen stiff and rigid," she explained. "At first I heard a strange voice about me--the voice of Doctor Colkirk, I suppose it must have been--speaking with Nora; but I was unable to make any sign. It was just as though I were in a kind of trance, yet half-conscious of things about me. My muscles were paralysed, and I knew that you believed me to be dead. The one horrible thought that possessed me was that I might, perhaps, be buried alive." "But you were not conscious the whole time?" Hoefer asked. "No; I think I slept during the latter part of the seizure. How long have I been lying here?" "About two hours and a half," answered her cousin. "Do you feel able to talk any more now?" I inquired. "I feel much better," she responded. "The draught that your friend has given me has had a wonderful effect. I'm quite restored." And she rose to her feet and stood before us, little the worse for her experience, save, perhaps, that the dark rings about her beautiful eyes showed that her system had received a terrible shock. "We want you to relate to us in detail what occurred when you entered the morning-room to see the woman who called upon you." She glanced inquiringly at her cousin, as though to obtain her permission to speak. "Nothing occurred," she answered; "she was sitting there awaiting me." "She had sent in a message, and you thought it--as your dressmaker, did you not?" "Yes. And I was very much surprised to find that it was not." "Was it some other person whom you knew?" "I had never seen her before," answered the woman who was my wedded wife. "She was tall, thin and dressed in black which seemed much the worse for wear." "Dark or fair?" "Dark. But I could not see her features well because of her thick black veil." "She was young, I suppose?" "Not very, I think. Her voice was low and rather refined." "And how did she explain her reason for sending in a message that she was your dressmaker? She must have been aware that you expected the woman to call on you." "She explained that the ruse was necessary, as she did not wish her visit to be known, either to my cousin or to the servants." "Why?" "Because she had brought me a message." "A message?" I exclaimed. "From whom?" "A verbal message from--from a friend." "And may we not know the name of that friend?" I asked. "There is a most remarkable mystery connected with that room into which she was shown, and, in order to solve the problem, we must be in possession of the whole truth." "What mystery?" Beryl inquired quickly, opening her eyes widely. "Any person who enters is, on leaving, attacked just as you were. Your cousin here, Doctor Hoefer, and myself, had all three experienced exactly similar symptoms."