The Madman's Room

Hardly had the door opened than her eyes rolled up and her features became distorted in an indescribable expression of terror. Despite the feeble light, Meadows and Bessie saw the blood drain out of her face and her knees start to buckle under her. It had all happened in the space of a few seconds and Meadows was just in time to catch her before she fell. His first instinct, as was Bessie’s, was to take a quick look inside the room. What was it that had terrified Sarah so much that she had lost consciousness? That was the question they were asking themselves as they stood, Meadows with the inert Sarah in his arms and Bessie shivering behind him, on the threshold of the room whose walls had already witnessed one mysterious tragedy.

But there was nothing there. At least, nothing out of the ordinary. Shelves stacked with old books covered every wall of the room. In front of the wall to their right was a large oak table with a lamp standing on it, giving out a gentle golden light through the lamp-shade. The wall to their left was nothing more nor less than a large bookcase with a red brick fireplace in the middle of it. The left window of the two in the wall facing them — opposite the door — was open. Night intruded through the half-open curtains, undisturbed by any draught. A narrow divan had been placed against the wall nearest the corridor, beneath shelves framing a painting of the battle of Trafalgar. The carpet which covered the entire floor was the same dark red as the curtains.

After several seconds of an oppressive silence, Dr. Meadows looked down at the woman he was holding in his arms, entered the room and placed her gently on the divan. Bessie rushed to the window. She could barely distinguish the drive and the trees in the park, but was able to make out more clearly a hedge closer to the main building. As her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, she was able to see two figures walking through a gap in the hedge towards the manor. She strained hard and was able to recognise the voices of Francis and Paula:

‘Going out for a walk, all by yourself at night? I’ve been looking for you for almost an hour! Couldn’t you have told me?’

‘You’re beginning to annoy me. I don’t have to tell you about every single little thing. And you gave me quite a shock, jumping out of the dark like that, without warning.’

‘By the way, you haven’t explained why you decided to climb over the railings on your way back… And another thing: did you forget about the bridge game we’d planned?’

Paula was about to reply when she caught sight of Bessie. Francis looked up in turn and stopped.

‘Something strange has happened,’ declared Bessie, ‘and your sister’s been taken sick.’

‘We’ll be right up there,’ replied Francis.

Bessie went back to join Mike, who was kneeling by the side of Sarah. Her face was white and her forehead was covered with perspiration.

‘For a moment there I feared the worst,’ declared Meadows. ‘She had almost no pulse. But things are improving. She’s had a severe shock. Look, her lips are still open, as if she wanted to shout out from….’

‘From fright?’

The doctor grimaced sceptically.

‘I can’t say for sure… but you saw her as well.’ He looked around the room and growled. ‘What was she afraid of? Everything in the room is normal. And there was no one there.’

‘Mike,’ murmured Bessie in a trembling voice, ‘there was something in this room, something which terrified Sarah. Admittedly she was already nervous before she opened the door, but afterwards? You would have thought she’d seen the Devil in person, the way her eyes popped out of her head. She was looking….’

Mike stopped with a sign of his hand.

‘She was looking straight in front of her, but downwards.’

He turned to look at the part of the carpet in front of the fireplace, and shot a questioning look at his companion.

‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘it was in that direction.’

Immediately, they both thought of the death of Harvey Thorne, which Brian had told them about some time before. Meadows stood up and went over to the fireplace. He bent down and looked startled. He patted his hand over the part of the carpet directly in front of the hearth and froze.

‘Darling,’ he said in an expressionless voice, ‘there’s water. The carpet is wet here.’

A sensation of terror took hold of them, leaving them speechless and frozen to the spot. Then hurried steps sounded in the corridor and Francis appeared at the door, his face haggard:

‘Dr. Meadows, come quickly! Harris is down below… and I fear he may be dead.’

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