The mirror reflected faithfully what his room presented, and nothing more.

It stood there like a golden setting whence the central jewel has been stolen away--like a night-sky without the glory of its stars.

She had carried with her all the strangeness of the reflected room.

It had sunk to the level of the one without.
But when the first pangs of his disappointment had passed, Cosmo began to comfort himself with the hope that she might return, perhaps the next evening, at the same hour.

Resolving that if she did, she should not at least be scared by the hateful skeleton, he removed that and several other articles of questionable appearance into a recess by the side of the hearth, whence they could not possibly cast any reflection into the mirror; and having made his poor room as tidy as he could, sought the solace of the open sky and of a night wind that had begun to blow, for he could not rest where he was.