It was dark inside, but he did not hesitate to enter, carrying the wire and the bag with him.

. . . . . . .

It was nightfall before we arrived with Elaine at Aunt Tabby’s.  We entered the living-room and Elaine introduced us both to Aunt Tabby and her husband.

It was difficult to tell whether Elaine’s old nurse was more glad to see her than the faithful Rusty who almost overwhelmed her even after so short an absence.

In the midst of the greetings, I took occasion to look over the living-room.  It was a very cozy room, simply and tastefully furnished, and I fancied that I could see in the neatness of Aunt Tabby a touch of Elaine’s hand, for she had furnished it for her faithful old friend.

I followed Kennedy’s eyes, and saw that he was looking at the fireplace.  Sure enough, it was the same in design as the fireplace which the heat had so unexpectedly brought out in sympathetic ink on the blank sheet of paper.

Kennedy lost no time in examining it, and we crowded around him as he went over it inch by inch, following the directions on the drawing.

At one point in the drawing a peculiar protuberance was marked.  Kennedy was evidently hunting for that.  He found it at last and pressed the sort of lever in several ways.  Nothing seemed to happen.  But finally, almost by chance, he seemed to discover the secret.

A small section at the side of the fireplace opened up, disclosing an iron ladder, leading down into one of those characteristic hiding-places in which the Clutching Hand used to delight.

Kennedy looked at the mysterious opening some time, as if trying to fathom the mystery.

“Let’s go down and explore it,” I suggested, taking a step toward the ladder.

Kennedy reached out and pulled me back.  Then without a word he pressed the little lever and the door closed.

“I think we’d better wait a while, Walter,” he decided.  “I would rather hear Aunt Tabby’s haunts myself.”

He carefully went over not only the rest of the house but the grounds about it, without discovering anything.

Aunt Tabby, with true country hospitality, seemed unable to receive guests without feeding them, and, although we had had a big dinner at a famous road-house on the way out, still none of us could find it in our hearts to refuse her hospitality.  Even that diversion, however, did not prevent us from talking of nothing else but the strange noises, and I think, as we waited, we all got into the frame of mind which would have manufactured them even if there had been none.

We were sitting about the room when suddenly the most weird and uncanny rappings began.  Rusty was on his feet in a moment, barking like mad.  We looked from one to another.

It was impossible to tell where the noises came from, or even to describe them.  They were certainly not ghostly rappings.  In fact, they sounded more like some twentieth century piece of machinery.