There might be as many side entrances to the cabinet as desired, but she
whom they looked for could come only from the spirit-land.
The front parlour, too, having been investigated, to show the
impossibility of any person's being concealed there, Dr. Hull proceeded
to close and lock the hall-door, that being the only exit connecting this
suite of rooms with the rest of the house. Having placed a heavy chair
against the locked door for further security, he gave the key to Paul.
Mrs. Legrand now rose, and without a word to any one passed through the
back parlour and disappeared in the cabinet.
As she did so a wild desire to fly from the room and the house came over
Miss Ludington. Not that she did not long inexpressibly to see the vision
that was drawing near, whose beautiful feet might even now be on the
threshold, but the sense of its awfulness overcame her. She felt that she
was not fit, not ready, for it now. If she could only have more time to
prepare herself, and then could come again. But it was too late to draw
back.
Dr. Hull had arranged three chairs across the broad doorway between the
back and front parlours, and facing the former.
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