The man nodded affirmatively.
Five minutes later he was ready to depart, and stood before the
ex-butler a well-dressed, intellectual, but very debauched-looking
gentleman. Being evidently well acquainted with the regime of the
establishment, he pressed an electric bell beside the door, presented
Soames with half-a-sovereign, and, as Said reappeared, took his
departure, leaving Soames more reconciled to his lot than he could ever
have supposed possible.
The task of cleaning the room was now commenced by Soames. Said
returned, bringing him the necessary utensils; and for fifteen minutes
or so he busied himself between the outer apartment and the bathroom.
During this time he found leisure to study the extraordinary mural
decorations; and, as he looked at them, he learned that they possessed a
singular property.
If one gazed continuously at any portion of the wall, the intertwined
figures thereon took shape--nay, took life; the intricate, elaborate
design ceased to be a design, and became a procession, a saturnalia;
became a sinister comedy, which, when first visualized, shocked Soames
immoderately. The horrors presented by these devices of evil cunning,
crowding the walls, appalled the narrow mind of the beholder, revolted
him in an even greater degree than they must have revolted a man of
broader and cleaner mind.
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