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"Most certainly I say so, your honourHow could I?It was entrusted tos by my masterTo open it would have been abreach of trust"

Caswall sneered

"Quite remarkable!Leave it with meClose the door behind youStay--did no one ever tell you about it--say anything regarding it--makeany remark?"

Old Siether

"Oh, sir, I entreat you not to touch itThat trunk probably containssecrets which Dr Mesmer told my masterTold them to his ruin!"

"How do you mean?What ruin?"

"Sir, he it ho, ht that that time and the evil of it had all

passed away"

"That will doGo away; but remain in your own room, or within callImay want you"

The oldaword

CHAPTER XII--THE CHEST OPENED

Left alone in the turret-roo a handkerchief over the keyholeNext, he inspected thes, and saw that they were not overlooked froThen he carefully exalassHe found it intact: the steel bands were flawless; thewhole trunk was co opposite to it for so to ave up thetask and went to his bedroo the door of the turret-roo away the key

He woke in thestudy of thethe wholeday with the sahthis nerves andstrain wasseen later in the afternoon, when he sat locked within the turret-roo trunk, distrait, listless and yet agitated,sunk in a settled gloo he told the steward tosend hi onesThese he ordered to take the trunk to hisbedrooht, without pausingeven to take any foodHis mind was in a whirl, a fever of exciteht, he locked himself in hisrooh road to mentaldisturbanceHe lay down on his bed in the dark, still brooding over themystery of the closed trunk

Gradually he yielded to the influences of silence and darknessAfterlying there quietly for soainButthis ti influences; his brain wasactive and able to work freely and to deal with otten--or only half-known--incidents, frag forgotten, crowded on his ions of whirring wings to which hehad been so lately accustoination founded on iination should work, for out of it ht come some solution ofthe mystery which surrounded himAnd in this frame of mind, sleep madeanother and more successful essayThis time he enjoyed peacefulsluht brain

In his sleep he arose, and, as if in obedience to soreat trunk and set it on a strongtable at one side of the room, from which he had previously removed aquantity of booksTo do this, he had to use an ath as, he knew, far beyond hih; everything yielded before his touchThen he becameconscious that someho, he never could re the chest on his shoulder, carried itup to the turret-room, the door of which also he unlockedEven at thetith, and wondered whence it had comeHis mind, lost in conjecture, was too far off to realise sHe knew that the chest was enormously heavyHe seemed, in asort of vision which lit up the absolute blackness around, to see the twosturdy servant ain in the turret-room, and laid the opened chest on a table, and inthe darkness began to unpack it, laying out the contents, which weree for still asleep, and of acting rather inobedience to some unseen and unknown command than in accordance with anyreasonable plan, to be followed by results which he understoodThisphase coe in order the colassHis fingers seemed tohave acquired a new and exquisite subtlety and even a volition of theirownThen weariness of brain came upon him; his head sank down on hisbreast, and little by little everything becaloom