The Classic Mystery Collection - Arthur Conan Doyle [1397]
Let it, however, be recorded, among the other virtues of Mrs. Henry Westwick, that she never again attempted to persuade her husband into betraying his secrets. Other men's wives, hearing of this extraordinary conduct (and being trained in the modern school of morals and manners), naturally regarded her with compassionate contempt. They spoke of Agnes, from that time forth, as 'rather an old-fashioned person.'
Is that all?
That is all.
Is there no explanation of the mystery of The Haunted Hotel?
Ask yourself if there is any explanation of the mystery of your own life and death.--Farewell.
________
Go to Start
"I SAY NO."
by WILKIE COLLINS
Book The First--At School: -I- | -II- | -III- | -IV- | -V- | -VI- | -VII- | -VIII- | -IX- | -X- | XI
Book The Second--In London: -XII- | -XIII- | -XIV- | -XV- | -XVI- | -XVII- | -XVIII- | -XIX- | -XX- | -XXI- | -XXII- | -XXIII- | -XXIV- | -XXV- | -XXVI- | -XXVII- | -XXVIII- | -XXIX- | -XXX- | -XXXI-
Book The Third--Netherwoods: -XXXII- | -XXXIII- | -XXXIV- | -XXXV- | -XXXVI- | -XXXVII- | -XXXVIII-
Book The Fourth--The Country House: -XXXIX- | -XL- | -XLI- | -XLII- | -XLIII- | -XLIV- | -XLV- | -XLVI- | -XLVII- | -XLVIII-
Book The Fifth--The Cottage: -XLIX- | -L- | -LI- | -LII- | -LIII- | -LIV-
Book The Sixth--Here And There: -LV- | -LVI- | -LVII-
Book The Seventh--The Clink: -LVIII- | -LIX- | -LX- | -LXI- | -LXII- | -LXIII- | -LXIV-
Book The Last--At Home Again: -LXV- | -LXVI- | -LXVII-
Postscript
BOOK THE FIRST--AT SCHOOL.
CHAPTER I.
THE SMUGGLED SUPPER.
Outside the bedroom the night was black and still.
The small rain fell too softly to be heard in the garden; not a leaf stirred in the airless calm; the watch-dog was asleep, the cats were indoors; far or near, under the murky heaven, not a sound was stirring.
Inside the bedroom the night was black and still.
Miss Ladd knew her business as a schoolmistress too well to allow night-lights; and Miss Ladd's young ladies were supposed to be fast asleep, in accordance with the rules of the house. Only at intervals the silence was faintly disturbed, when the restless turning of one of the girls in her bed betrayed itself by a gentle rustling between the sheets. In the long intervals of stillness, not even the softly audible breathing of young creatures asleep was to be heard.
The first sound that told of life and movement revealed the mechanical movement of the clock. Speaking from the lower regions, the tongue of Father Time told the hour before midnight.
A soft voice rose wearily near the door of the room. It counted the strokes of the clock--and reminded one of the girls of the lapse of time.
"Emily! eleven o'clock."
There was no reply. After an interval the weary voice tried again, in louder tones:
"Emily!"
A girl, whose bed was at the inner end of the room, sighed under the heavy heat of the night--and said, in peremptory tones, "Is that Cecilia?"
"Yes."
"What do you want?"
"I'm getting hungry, Emily. Is the new girl asleep?"
The new girl answered promptly and spitefully, "No, she isn't."
Having a private object of their own in view, the five wise virgins of Miss Ladd's first class had waited an hour, in wakeful anticipation of the falling asleep of the stranger--and it had ended in this way! A ripple of laughter ran round the room. The new girl, mortified and offended, entered her protest in plain words.
"You are treating me shamefully! You all distrust me, because I am a stranger."
"Say we don't understand you," Emily answered, speaking for her schoolfellows; "and you will be nearer the truth."
"Who expected you to understand me, when I only came here to-day? I have told you already my name is Francine de Sor. If want to know more, I'm nineteen years old, and I come from the West Indies."
Emily still took the lead. "Why do you come here?" she asked.