I upbraided myself for my absurd superstition, which had caused me to fall into the trap.

I felt inclined to laugh and to cry at the same time.
"This was the state of mind in which Erik found me.

After giving three taps on the wall, he walked in quietly through a door which I had not noticed and which he left open.

He had his arms full of boxes and parcels and arranged them on the bed, in a leisurely fashion, while I overwhelmed him with abuse and called upon him to take off his mask, if it covered the face of an honest man.

He replied serenely, 'You shall never see Erik's face.' And he reproached me with not having finished dressing at that time of day: he was good enough to tell me that it was two o'clock in the afternoon.