Accordingly, in the twilight, he caused his bed to be brought to the
apartment, and waited, without sleeping, the approach of midnight. But
what was his consternation, when, on the stroke of midnight, he actually
heard some inconceivable noise in the apartment, as if some person had
risen up from among straw, which rustled beneath them, walked slowly over
the floor, and sank, sighing and groaning, behind the chimney. When he
came down the next morning, the marchesa asked him how the investigation
had gone on; and he, after gazing about him with wondering glances, and
bolting the door, told her the story of the chamber's being haunted was
true. She was terrified out of her senses; but begged him, before making
any public disclosure, once more to make the experiment coolly in her
company. Accompanied by a trusty servant, they accordingly repeated their
visit next night, and again heard, as the marquess had done before, the
same ghostly and inconceivable noise; and nothing but the anxious wish to
get rid of the castle, cost what it would, enabled them to suppress their
terrors in presence of the servant, and to ascribe the sound to some
accidental cause. On the evening of the third day, when both, determined
to probe the matter to the bottom, were ascending with beating hearts the
stair leading to the stranger's apartment, it chanced that the house dog,
who had been let loose from the chain, was lying directly before the door
of the room; and, willing perhaps to have the company of any other living
thing in the mysterious apartment, they took the dog into the room along
with them.
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