The coat that I wanted
was near the end of the closet, not more than four paces from the
mirror, and as I went towards it I watched my reflection rather
nervously as it advanced to meet me. I found my coat, and as I felt for
the papers, I still kept a suspicious eye on my double. And, even as I
looked, a most strange phenomenon appeared: the mirror seemed for an
instant to darken or cloud over, and then, as it cleared again, I saw,
standing dark against the light of the open door behind him, the figure
of the mandarin. After a single glance, I ran out of the closet, shaking
with agitation; but as I turned to shut the door, I noticed that it was
my own figure that was reflected in the glass. The Chinaman had vanished
in an instant.
"It now became evident that my letter had not served its purpose, and I
was plunged in despair; the more so since, on this day, I felt again the
dreadful impulse to go and look at the pegs on the walls of the closet.
There was no mistaking the meaning of that impulse, and each time that I
went, I dragged myself away reluctantly, though shivering with horror.
One circumstance, indeed, encouraged me a little; the mandarin had not,
on either occasion, beckoned to me as he had done to the sailors, so
that perhaps some way of escape yet lay open to me.
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