It was necessary, for the success of my plan, that some time should
elapse before I reapproached Mr. Moore. I therefore kept my word to
him and satisfied my own curiosity by taking a fresh tour through the
house. Naturally, in doing this, I visited the library. Here all
was dark. The faint twilight still illuminating the streets failed
to penetrate here. I was obliged to light my lantern.
My first glance was toward the fireplace. Venturesome hands had
been there. Not only had, the fender been drawn out and the grate
set aside, but the huge settle had been wrenched free from the mantel
and dragged into the center of the room. Rather pleased at this
change, for with all my apparent bravado I did not enjoy too close a
proximity to the cruel hearthstone, I stopped to give this settle a
thorough investigation. The result was disappointing. To all
appearance and I did not spare it the experiment of many a thump and
knock - it was a perfectly innocuous piece of furniture, clumsy of
build, but solid and absolutely devoid of anything that could explain
the tragedies which had occurred so near it. I even sat down on its
musty old cushion and shut my eyes, but was unrewarded by alarming
visions, or disturbance of any sort. Nor did the floor where it had
stood yield any better results to the inquiring eye.
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