He remembered as he went up to it that at this precise spot four months ago he had lost sight of the man's figure which he saw rise from the wicker chair, and at the memory felt an involuntary shudder.

This reminiscence probably influenced his fancy also in another direction; for it seemed to him that very faintly, as though played far off, and with the _sordino_, he could hear the air of the _Gagliarda_.

He put one hand behind the picture to steady it, and as he did so his finger struck a very slight projection in the wall.

He pulled the picture a little to one side, and saw that what he had touched was the back of a small hinge sunk in the wall, and almost obliterated with many coats of paint.

His curiosity was excited, and he took a candle from the table and examined the wall carefully.