Directly in front of him on the wall was the picture of a lady in middle-life, sitting in an arbour.

A crutch lay against one arm of her chair, and her left hand leaned on an ebony silver-topped cane.

There was something painful, haunting, in the face--a weirdness in the whole picture.

The face was looking into the sunlight, but the effect was rather of moonlight--distant, mournful.

He was fascinated; why, he could not tell.