Speaker 1: The sealed room by Bernhard severin Ingemen. For many years
Speaker 1: there stood in a side street in Kiel, an unpretentious
Speaker 1: old frame house which had a forbidding, almost sinister appearance,
Speaker 1: with its old fashioned balcony and its overhanging upper stories.
Speaker 1: For the last twenty years the house had been occupied
Speaker 1: by a greatly respected widow, Madame Wolf, to whom the
Speaker 1: dwelling had come by inheritance. She lived there quietly with
Speaker 1: her one daughter in somewhat straitened circumstances. What gave the
Speaker 1: home a mysterious notoriety, Augmenting the sinister quality in its
Speaker 1: appearance was the fact that one of its rooms, a
Speaker 1: corner room on the main floor, had not been opened
Speaker 1: for generations. The door was firmly fastened and sealed with plaster,
Speaker 1: as well as the window looking out upon the street.
Speaker 1: Above the door was an old inscription, dated sixteen o three,
Speaker 1: which threatened sudden death an eternal damnation to any human
Speaker 1: being who dared to open the door or efface the inscription.
Speaker 1: Neither door nor window had been opened in the two
Speaker 1: hundred years that had passed since the inscription was put up,
Speaker 1: but for a generation back or more. The partition wall,
Speaker 1: and the sealed door had been covered with wall paper,
Speaker 1: and the inscription had been almost forgotten. The room adjoining
Speaker 1: the sealed chamber was a large hall, utilized only for
Speaker 1: rare important events. Such an occasion arose with the wedding
Speaker 1: of the only daughter of the house. For that evening,
Speaker 1: the Great Hall, as it was called, was brilliantly decorated
Speaker 1: and illuminated for a ball. The building had deep cellars,
Speaker 1: and the old floors were elastic. Madame Wolf had in
Speaker 1: vain endeavored to avoid using the Great Hall at all,
Speaker 1: for the foolish old legend of the sealed Chamber aroused
Speaker 1: a certain superstitious dread in her heart, and she rarely
Speaker 1: if ever entered the hall herself. But Mary, miss Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: her pretty young daughter, was passionately fond of dancing, and
Speaker 1: her mother had promised that she should have a ball
Speaker 1: on her wedding day. Her betrothed secretary, Went was also
Speaker 1: a good dancer, and the two young people combated the
Speaker 1: mother's prejudice against the hall and laughed at her fear
Speaker 1: of the sealed room. They thought it would be wiser
Speaker 1: to appear to ignore the stupid legend altogether, and thus
Speaker 1: to force the world to forget it. In spite of
Speaker 1: secret misgivings, Madame Wolf yielded to their arguments, and for
Speaker 1: the first time in many years, the merry strains of
Speaker 1: dance music were heard in the Great Hall that lay
Speaker 1: next to the mysterious Sealed Chamber. The bridal couple, as
Speaker 1: well as the wedding guests were in the gayest mood,
Speaker 1: and the ball was an undoubted success. The dancing was
Speaker 1: interrupted for an hour while supper was served in an
Speaker 1: adjoining room. After the repast, the guest returned to the hall,
Speaker 1: and it was several hours more before the last dance
Speaker 1: was called. The season was early autumn and the weather
Speaker 1: still balmy. The windows had been opened to freshen the air,
Speaker 1: but the walls retained their dampness, and suddenly the dancers
Speaker 1: noticed that the old wall paper which covered the partition
Speaker 1: wall between the hall and the Sealed Chamber, had been
Speaker 1: loosened through the jarring of the building and had fallen
Speaker 1: away from the sealed door with its mysterious inscription. The
Speaker 1: story of the Sealed Chamber had been almost forgotten by
Speaker 1: most of those present, forgotten with many other old legends
Speaker 1: heard in childhood. The inscription, thus suddenly revealed naturally aroused
Speaker 1: great interest, and there was a general curiosity to know
Speaker 1: what the mysterious closed room might hide. Conjectures flew from
Speaker 1: mouth to mouth. Some insisted that the closed door must
Speaker 1: hide the traces of a hideous murder or some other
Speaker 1: equally terrible crime. Others suggested that perhaps the room had
Speaker 1: been used as a hiding place for garments and other
Speaker 1: articles belonging to some person who had died of a pestilence,
Speaker 1: and that the room had been sealed for fear of
Speaker 1: spreading the disease. Still others thought that in the sealed
Speaker 1: chamber there might be found a secret entrance from the cellars,
Speaker 1: which had made the room available as a hiding place
Speaker 1: for robbers or smugglers. The guests had quite forgotten their
Speaker 1: dancing in the interest awakened by the sight of the
Speaker 1: mysterious door. For mercy's sake, don't let let's go too
Speaker 1: near it, exclaimed some of the young ladies, But the
Speaker 1: majority thought it would be great fun to see what
Speaker 1: was hidden there. Most of the men said that they
Speaker 1: considered it foolish not to have opened the door long
Speaker 1: ago and examined the room. The young bridegroom did not
Speaker 1: join in this opinion. However, he upheld the decision of
Speaker 1: his mother in law not to allow any attempt to
Speaker 1: effect an entrance into the room. He knew that there
Speaker 1: was a clause in the title deeds to the house
Speaker 1: which made the express stipulation that no owner should ever
Speaker 1: permit the corner room to be opened. There was discussion
Speaker 1: among the guests as to whether such a clause in
Speaker 1: a title deed could be binding for several hundred years,
Speaker 1: and many doubted its validity at any time, But most
Speaker 1: of them understood why Madame Wolf did not wish any investigation.
Speaker 1: Even should any of those present have sufficient courage to
Speaker 1: dare the curse and break open the door, nonsense, what
Speaker 1: great courage is necessary for that, exclaimed Lieutenant Flemingwulf, cousin
Speaker 1: of the bride of the evening. This gentlemen had a
Speaker 1: reputation that was not of the best. He was known
Speaker 1: to live mostly on debt and pawn tickets, and was
Speaker 1: of a most quarrelsome disposition as a duellist. He was
Speaker 1: feared because of his specialty. This was the ability and
Speaker 1: the inclination through a trick in the use of the
Speaker 1: foils to disfigure his opponent's face badly without at all
Speaker 1: endangering his life. In this manner he had already sadly
Speaker 1: mutilated several brave officers and students who had had the
Speaker 1: bad luck to stand up against him. He himself was
Speaker 1: anything but pleasant to look upon, his natural plainness having
Speaker 1: been rendered repellent by a life of low debauchery. He
Speaker 1: cherished a secret grudge against the bridegroom, and bitter feelings
Speaker 1: towards the bride, because the latter had so plainly shown
Speaker 1: her aversion for him when he had ventured to pay
Speaker 1: suit to her. The family had not desired any open
Speaker 1: break with this disagreeable relative, and had therefore sent him
Speaker 1: an invitation to the wedding. They had taken it for
Speaker 1: granted that under the circumstances he would prefer to stay away,
Speaker 1: But he had appeared at the ball, and, perhaps to
Speaker 1: conceal his resentment, he had been the most indefatigable dancer
Speaker 1: of the evening. At supper, he had partaken freely of
Speaker 1: the strongest wines, and was plainly showing the effect of them.
Speaker 1: By this time. His eyes rolled wildly, and those who
Speaker 1: knew him, took care not to contradict him or to
Speaker 1: have anything to say to him at all. With a
Speaker 1: boastful laugh, he repeated his assertion that it didn't take
Speaker 1: much courage to open a sealed door, especially when there
Speaker 1: might be a fortune concealed behind it. In his opinion,
Speaker 1: it was cowardly to let oneself be frightened by a
Speaker 1: century old legend. He wouldn't let that bother him if
Speaker 1: he had influence enough in the family to win the
Speaker 1: daughter and induce the mother to give a ball in
Speaker 1: the haunted hall. With this last bit, he hoped to
Speaker 1: arouse the young husband's ire, but the latter merely shrugged
Speaker 1: his shoulders and turned away with a smile of contempt.
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Wolf fired up at this, and demanded to know
Speaker 1: whether the other intended to call his the Lieutenant's courage
Speaker 1: into question by his behavior. Not in the slightest when
Speaker 1: it is a matter of obtaining a loan or of
Speaker 1: mutilating an adversary with a trick at fencing, answered the bridegroom, angrily,
Speaker 1: taking care, however, that neither the bride nor any of
Speaker 1: the other ladies should hear his words. Then he continued
Speaker 1: in a whisper. But I don't believe you'd have the
Speaker 1: courage to remain here alone and in darkness before this
Speaker 1: closed door for a single hour. If you wish to
Speaker 1: challenge me for this doubt, I am at your disposal
Speaker 1: as soon as you have proven me in the wrong.
Speaker 1: But I choose the weapons. They must be chosen by lot,
Speaker 1: Sir cousin replied the lieutenant, his cheek pale and his
Speaker 1: jaws set. I will expect you to breakfast tomorrow morning
Speaker 1: at eight o'clock. The bridegroom nodded and took the other's cold,
Speaker 1: dry hand for an instant. The men who had overheard
Speaker 1: the short conversation looked upon it as a meaningless incident,
Speaker 1: the memory of which would disappear from the lieutenant's brain
Speaker 1: with the vanishing wine fumes. The ball was now over.
Speaker 1: The bride left the hall with her husband and several
Speaker 1: of the guests, who were to accompany the young couple
Speaker 1: to their new home. The lights went out in the
Speaker 1: old home. The door of the dancing hall had been
Speaker 1: locked from the outside. Lieutenant Fleming Wolf remained alone in
Speaker 1: the room, having hidden himself in a dark corner where
Speaker 1: he had not been seen by the servants, who had
Speaker 1: extinguished the lights and locked the door. The night watchman
Speaker 1: had just called out two o'clock when the solitary guest
Speaker 1: found himself, still giddy from the heavy wine, alone in
Speaker 1: the great dark hall in front of the mysterious door.
Speaker 1: The windows were only a slight elevation from the street,
Speaker 1: and a spring would take him to safety should his
Speaker 1: desire to remain there or to solve the mystery of
Speaker 1: the sealed room vanish. But next morning all the windows
Speaker 1: in the great hall were found closed, just as the
Speaker 1: servants had left them the night before. The night watchman
Speaker 1: reported that he had heard a hollow sounding crash in
Speaker 1: that unoccupied part of the house during the night, but
Speaker 1: that was nothing unusual, as there was a general bleak
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood that the house was haunted, for Hollow
Speaker 1: noises were often heard there, and sounds as of money
Speaker 1: falling to the floor and rattling and clinking as of
Speaker 1: a factory machine enlightened people. It is true explained these
Speaker 1: sounds as echoes of the stamping and other natural noises
Speaker 1: from a large stable just behind the old house. But
Speaker 1: in spite of these explanations and their eminent feasibility. The
Speaker 1: dread of the unoccupied portion of the house was so
Speaker 1: great that not even the most reckless man servant could
Speaker 1: be persuaded to enter it alone. After nightfall. Next morning,
Speaker 1: at eight o'clock, Winter appeared at his mother in law's door,
Speaker 1: saying that he had forgotten something of importance in the
Speaker 1: Great Hall the night before. Madame Wolf had not yet arisen,
Speaker 1: but the maid who let in the early visitor noticed
Speaker 1: with surprise that he had a large pistol sticking out
Speaker 1: of one of his pockets. Winter had been to his
Speaker 1: cousin's apartment and found it locked. He now entered the
Speaker 1: Great Hall, and at first glance thought it empty. To
Speaker 1: his alarm and astonishishment, however, he saw that the sealed
Speaker 1: door had been broken open. He approached it with anxiety
Speaker 1: and found his wife's cousin, the doughty Duellist, lying pale
Speaker 1: and lifeless on the threshold. Beside him lay a large stone,
Speaker 1: which had struck his head in falling and must have
Speaker 1: killed him at once. Over the door was a hole
Speaker 1: in the wall just the size of the stone. The
Speaker 1: latter had evidently rested on the upper edge of the door,
Speaker 1: and must certainly have fallen on its opening. The unfortunate
Speaker 1: man lay half in the mysterious chamber and half in
Speaker 1: the hall, just as he must have fallen when the
Speaker 1: stone struck him. The formal investigation of the closed room
Speaker 1: was made in the presence of the police authorities. It
Speaker 1: contained nothing but a small safe, which was built into
Speaker 1: the wall. When the safe had been opened by force,
Speaker 1: an inner chamber, which had to be broken open by itself,
Speaker 1: was found to contain a number of rolls of gold pieces,
Speaker 1: many jewels, and numerous notes and io ewes. The treasure
Speaker 1: was covered by an old document. From this latter it
Speaker 1: was learned that the owner of the house two hundred
Speaker 1: years ago had been a silk weaver by the name
Speaker 1: of Fleming Ambrosious Wolf. He was said to have lent
Speaker 1: money on security for many years, but had died apparently
Speaker 1: a poor man, because he had so carefully hidden his
Speaker 1: riches that little of it was found after his death.
Speaker 1: With a niggardliness that bordered on madness, he had believed
Speaker 1: that he could hide his treasure forever by shutting it
Speaker 1: up in the sealed room. The curse over the door
Speaker 1: was to frighten away any venturesome mortal and further security
Speaker 1: was given by the clause and the title deed. The
Speaker 1: universally disliked Lieutenant Fleming Wolf must have had many characteristics
Speaker 1: in common with this disagreeable old ancestor, to whose treasure
Speaker 1: he would have fallen heir had he not lost his
Speaker 1: life in the discovering of it. The old miser had
Speaker 1: not hidden his wealth for all eternity, as he had hoped,
Speaker 1: but had only brought about the inheriting of it by
Speaker 1: Madame Wolf, the owner of the house and the next
Speaker 1: of kin. The first use to which this lady put
Speaker 1: the money was to tear down the uncanny old building
Speaker 1: and to erect in its stead a beautiful new home
Speaker 1: for her daughter and son in law.