He left them.  They stood quietly there, with anxious hearts; they could not guess what they would see.  They were afraid that something would happen to Arthur, and Susie regretted that she had not insisted on going with him.  Suddenly she remembered that awful moment when the light of the lamp had been thrown where all expected to see a body, and there was nothing.

‘What do you think it meant?’ she cried suddenly.  ’What is the explanation?’

‘Perhaps we shall see now,’ answered the doctor.

Arthur still lingered, and she could not imagine what had become of him.  All sorts of horrible fancies passed through her mind, and she dreaded she knew not what.  At last they heard a footstep inside the house, and the door was opened.

’I was convinced that nobody slept here, but I was obliged to make sure.  I had some difficulty in getting in.’

Susie hesitated to enter.  She did not know what horrors awaited her, and the darkness was terrifying.

‘I cannot see,’ she said.

‘I’ve brought a torch,’ said Arthur.

He pressed a button, and a narrow ray of bright light was cast upon the floor.  Dr Porhoet and Susie went in.  Arthur carefully closed the door, and flashed the light of his torch all round them.  They stood in a large hall, the floor of which was scattered with the skins of lions that Haddo on his celebrated expedition had killed in Africa.  There were perhaps a dozen, and their number gave a wild, barbaric note.  A great oak staircase led to the upper floors.

‘We must go through all the rooms,’ said Arthur.

He did not expect to find Haddo till they came to the lighted attics, but it seemed needful nevertheless to pass right through the house on their way.  A flash of his torch had shown him that the walls of the hall were decorated with all manner of armour, ancient swords of Eastern handiwork, barbaric weapons from central Africa, savage implements of medieval warfare; and an idea came to him.  He took down a huge battle-axe and swung it in his hand.

‘Now come.’

Silently, holding their breath as though they feared to wake the dead, they went into the first room.  They saw it difficultly with their scant light, since the thin shaft of brilliancy, emphasising acutely the surrounding darkness, revealed it only piece by piece.  It was a large room, evidently unused, for the furniture was covered with holland, and there was a mustiness about it which suggested that the windows were seldom opened.  As in many old houses, the rooms led not from a passage but into one another, and they walked through many till they came back into the hall.  They had all a desolate, uninhabited air.  Their sombreness was increased by the oak with which they were panelled.  There was panelling in the hall too, and on the stairs that led broadly to the top of the house.  As they ascended, Arthur stopped for one moment and passed his hand over the polished wood.