It was the fact that the occupants of Paramore did indeed take their trouble hard that struck Spencer Coyle after he had been an hour or two in that fine old house. This very short second visit, beginning on the Saturday evening, was to constitute the strangest episode of his life. As soon as he found himself in private with his wife -- they had retired to dress for dinner -- they called each other's attention with effusion and almost with alarm to the sinister gloom that was stamped on the place.