Wyatt.
Well, during two nights (NOT consecutive) while I lay awake, I
clearly saw Mrs. W., about eleven o'clock upon each night, steal
cautiously from the state-room of Mr. W., and enter the extra room,
where she remained until daybreak, when she was called by her
husband and went back. That they were virtually separated was
clear. They had separate apartments--no doubt in contemplation of
a more permanent divorce; and here, after all I thought was the
mystery of the extra stateroom.
There was another circumstance, too, which interested me much.
During the two wakeful nights in question, and immediately after
the disappearance of Mrs. Wyatt into the extra stateroom, I was
attracted by certain singular cautious, subdued noises in that of
her husband. After listening to them for some time, with
thoughtful attention, I at length succeeded perfectly in
translating their import. They were sounds occasioned by the
artist in prying open the oblong box, by means of a chisel and
mallet--the latter being apparently muffled, or deadened, by some
soft woollen or cotton substance in which its head was enveloped.
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