I reached the room and tried to open the door. My hand was trembling; at last the key was in the lock. I opened the door and stepped inside. The door shut with a ‘bang’. The echo went through the empty room. What had happened to me? Who was the woman in black? I did not believe in ghosts, but I had seen one. A ghost that was monstrous and evil! But I was inside the room now. I was safe; I smiled. I did not believe in ghosts. I had work to do. And I wanted to do it well; I must forget the woman in black.
I glanced around; I was standing in a dark, gloomy hallway. In front of me was a wide spiral staircase. On one side there was a passage. There were several other doors, all of them secured. I went to the nearest door and opened it; I then opened one door after another. There was ancient furniture in every room; it was all immense and massive. There were old pictures on all the walls; every room had desks and cupboards.
I came upon a room which had a door covered with baize. There was a damp smell in the room; the room was dark and shadowy. Suddenly I heard something; the sound came from somewhere along the corridor. Yes, I could hear something: ‘BUMP, BUMP, BUMP’. What was it? My heart was beating fast; I opened the door. The passage outside was dark and empty; I heard the sound again: ‘BUMP, BUMP, BUMP’. It came from a passage on the left. Very slowly I began to walk towards the sound; I opened the doors one by one. Every room was dark and silent; there was a door at the end of the passage. It was the ‘Red Room’! Yes, the sound came from behind his door: ‘BUMP, BUMP, BUMP’. I had heard this sound long ago; I had heard it when I was a child. What was it? I was shaking with fear, and still the sound went on: ‘BUMP, BUMP, BUMP’. I heard another sound; it came from behind me. The bumping sound stopped; everything was quiet.
After a few moments the sound came back. This time it was even louder than before. When I reached the ‘Red Room’, I saw why. The door of the ‘Red Room’ was open – wide open. I was shaking now; my mouth was dry with fear; I thought I was going to die. The bumping sound went on. And now I remembered; I knew what the sound was. When I was a child, my mother had a rocking chair. Sometimes I wouldn’t sleep. Then my mother held me in her arms. She sat in the chair and rocked back and forth: ‘BUMP, BUMP, BUMP’. That was the sound made by the rocking chair on the floor, I was no longer afraid. The sound meant peace and rest. There had been evil in that room, I knew that, but it had vanished. Perhaps it was my happy thoughts; they had driven the evil spirit away from the ‘Red Room’.
I walked into the ‘Red Room’; the room had been a child’s bedroom. There was a small bed in one corner. A tall rocking chair stood in front of the fireplace. The chair was rocking gently; but there was no one there; the room was empty. No one had passed me in the corridor; there was no other door. The windows were shut; there were two wooden bars across them. The chair stopped moving; there was complete silence.
The ‘Red Room’ was clean and tidy; there were sheets and pillows on the bed. I opened a chest and a cupboard; they were both full of clothes. Clothes for a boy of six or seven, these were beautifully made, but they were old-fashioned clothes. The room was full of children’s toys. They were neat and tidy, and there was no dust on them at all. There were toy soldiers and a sailing boat, there were games, paint and books, all things that little boys love. They had been here for 60 years, but everything was neat, tidy and clean. There was nothing frightening in this room, only a feeling of sadness – a feeling of something lost. I felt sad, extremely sad.