"Then I hope her ladyship will not invite me oftener than once a month," cried impulsive Janet. "The number of your invitations to dinner will depend upon the extent of her liking for you, so that we shall soon know whether or no you are a favourite. She may or may not require you after dinner. If she does require you, it may be either for reading or music, or to play backgammon with her; or even to sit quietly with her without speaking, for the mere sake of companionship. One fact you will soon discover for yourself--that her ladyship does not like to be long alone. And now, dearest, I think I have told you enough for the present. We will talk further of these things to-morrow. Give me just one kiss, and then see what you can find to play among that heap of old music on the piano. Madame Duclos used to write in raptures of your style and touch. We will now prove whether her eulogy was well founded." Janet found that she was not to occupy the same bedroom as on her first visit to Dupley Walls, but one nearer that of Sister Agnes. She was not sorry for this, for there had been a secret dread upon her of having to sleep in a room so near to that occupied by the body of Sir John Pollexfen. She had never forgotten her terrible experience in connexion with the Black Room, and she wished to keep herself entirely free from any such influences in time to come. The first question she asked Dance when they reached her bedroom was:-- "Does Sister Agnes still visit the Black Room every midnight?" "Yes, for sure," answered Dance. "There is no one but her to do it. Her ladyship would not allow any of the servants to enter the room. Rather than that, I believe she would herself do what has to be done there. Sister Agues would not neglect that duty if she was dying." Janet said no more, but then and there she made up her mind to a certain course of action, of which nothing would have made her believe herself capable only an hour before. Early next forenoon she was summoned to an interview with Lady Pollexfen. Her heart beat more quickly than common as she was ushered by Dance into the old woman's dressing-room.