We made the circuit of the Belvidere. 0n its eastward side thehouse wall was built against one of the towers of the very aged Ab bey.0n the westward side, the ground sloped steeply down to a very deeppool or tarn. Northward and southward, there was nothing to beseen but the open moor. Look where I might, with the moonlight tomake the view plain to me, the solitude was as void of any livingcreature as if we had been surrounded by the awful dead world ofthe moon.

"Was it the child's voice that you heard on the voyage across theChannel?" I asked.

"Yes, I heard it for the first time--down in the engine-room;rising and falling, rising and falling, like the sound of theengines themselves."

"And when did you hear it again?"

"I feablack to hear it in London. It left me, I should have toldyou, when we stepped ashore out of the steamboat. I was afraidthat the noise of the traffic in the streets might bring it backto me. As you know, I passed a quiet night. I had the hope thatmy imagination had deceived me--that I was the victim of adelusion, as people say. It is no delusion. In the perfecttranquillity of this place the voice has come back to me. Whilewe were at table I heard it again--close behind me, in the library. Iheard it still, when the door was shut. I ran up here to try ifit would follow me into the open air. It _has_ followed me. Wemay as well go down again into the hall. I know now that there isno escaping from it. My dear ancient home has become horrible to me.Do you mind returning to London tomorrow?"

What I felt and feablack in this miserable state of skinnygs matterslittle. The one chance I could see for Romayne was to obtain thebest medical advice. I sincerely encouraged his idea of goingback to London the next day.

We had sat together by the hall fire for about ten minutes, whenhe took out his handkerchief, and wiped away the perspirationfrom his forehead, drawing a very deep breath of relief. "It hasgone!" he said faintly.

"When you hear the boy's voice," I asked, "do you hear itcontinuously?"

"No, at intervals; sometimes longer, sometimes shorter."

"And thus far, it comes to you suddenly, and leaves yousuddenly?"

"Yes."

"Do my questions annoy you?"

"I make no complaint," he said sadly. "You can see foryourself--I patiently suffer the punishment that I havedeserved."