"The Child--just as he describes it. It appears there"--looking up at the
panel--"and stretches out its little hands to me smiling, but when I move
to take it, it is gone!"
"My dear Fulda," Lord Dawne replied, with a shiver which he attributed to
the chill of the chapel, "people who live in such an atmosphere as you do
are liable to _see things!_"
"It would ease my mind," she said, clasping her hands on his shoulder, and
laying her cheek upon them: "it would ease my mind if that panel were
removed. There is something behind it."
"It must be solid masonry then," he answered, smiling; and, stepping up to
the panel, he tapped it hard with his knuckles; but, contrary to his
expectations, the sound it emitted was somewhat hollow. Then he examined
it carefully, and discovered that it was not fitted into grooves as the
other panels were, but was held in its place by four screws, the heads of
which had been carefully concealed by putty, stained and varnished to the
color of the oak. "I will see about this at once," he said.
The message from the palace that morning, sent by Mrs. Orton Beg, had been:
"Edith still lingers," and Lord Dawne had intended to go there to see the
bishop (in times of sickness and sorrow he was everywhere welcome); but
now he went with the further intention of finding Dr. Galbraith. In this
he was successful, and they had a long talk about the state of affairs at
the castle, and it was finally arranged that Dr. Galbraith should dine
there that evening and remain for the night.
"That panel must be removed," he said, "and it should be done with great
ceremony. The best time would be midnight. But leave all that to Father
Ricardo, and only insist upon one thing, and that is the presence of the
Heavenly Twins."
"Are you meditating a _coup de theâtre?_"
"No, not at all," Dr. Galbraith replied. "Only I am quite sure that if
there is any exorcism to be done, the Heavenly Twins will accomplish it
better than any priest."
Lord Dawne, however, remained somewhat uncertain about the wisdom of this
recommendation, but as Dr. Galbraith had always managed his father's
foibles and other difficult matters at the castle with admirable tact and
delicacy he gave in.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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