By the time I had dragged him downstairs again into the cellar my resolution was almost gone. But his frenzy suddenly seemed to leave him and without much trouble I got him through the gap in the new wall. I shackled him to the last two pairs of handcuffs I had cemented into the wall forty-eight hours before. His companions, still unconscious, dangled from their own fetters.

And then I bricked them up.

Dawn was breaking by the time I had finished. I slept for twelve hours then continued this account. It is almost finished now. I shall complete it, put it in a small deedbox I brought with me, tie string around it and slip it through the small gap I have left in the wall for that purpose. I shall then cement in the final four bricks. There remains the whitewashing and disguising of the wall, the clearing away of the bags, planks of wood, the –

Arnold Bourne ceased reading, laid the last sheet down thoughtfully.

‘The rest of it is on the two scorched sheets. They’re so brittle I don’t want to try to decipher what’s on them in the meantime. Probably need ultra-violet light in any case. However I think we can guess the rest.’

In the Volvo, although the engine was running and the heating was on, it seemed cold. Paul looked at Carol.

‘It explains an awful lot,’ he said. ‘I suppose he packed their clothes, took the family coach and left. I suppose he went back to Africa.’ He visualized the three human skeletons hanging from their fetters in the cavity of the ruined house and drew a deep breath. Oh Christ, he thought. Man’s inhumanity to man . . .

Carol looked at Meredith.

‘The woman Paul saw – ’

‘What woman?’

Paul repeated his story. Meredith nodded.

‘Haven’t you realized yet, Mr Wilson, that you are a sensitive?’

‘Me!’

‘Yes. Think about it. Nothing happened until you and Mrs Wilson arrived. You saw the man in the tower room, you were always around when phenomena occurred. You saw the young woman in the ruins. I think Ardvreck House has brought your latent talent into the open now.’

Carol gazed at Paul.

‘I hope you’re wrong, Mr Meredith. I really do hope so.’ She frowned. ‘I’m still trying to understand everything. There seems to have been two types of . . . thing . . . in that house. The weeping, the woman Colin saw, some of the other things that happened. When you think of it, in the light of what you and Paul and Dr Bourne found this morning, all these were almost attempts to draw attention to the cavity and its contents.’

‘In what way?’

‘Well, the weeping ended in the billiards-room just above the cavity; the woman – Elaine? – led Paul there. Even some of the other things are suggestive. The knotted curtains – bonds? The scattered coal – from the cellars. The rain of whisky and gin – a hint to the wine-cellar?’