This room was chill，because it seldom had a fire; it was silent，because remote from the nursery and kitchen; solemn，because it was known to be so seldom entered. The housemaid alone came here on Saturdays，to wipe from the mirrors and the furniture a week"s quiet dust: and Mrs. Reed herself，at far intervals，visited it to review the contents of a certain secret drawer in the wardrobe，where were stored divers parchments，her jewel-casket，and a miniature of her deceased husband; and in those last words lies the secret of the red-room- the spell which kept it so lonely in spite of its grandeur.

Mr. Reed had been dead nine years: it was in this chamber he breathed his last; here he lay in state; hence his coffin was borne by the undertaker"s men; and，since that day，a sense of dreary consecration had guarded it from frequent intrusion.