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1It is not bad--at first, and very gentle, but quite the subtlest, most enduring odor I ever met. In this damp weather it
2is awful. I wake up in the night and find it hanging over me. It used to disturb me at first. I thought seriously of
3burning the house--to reach the smell. But now I am used to it. The only thing I can think of that it is like is the
4color of the paper! A yellow smell. There is a very funny mark on this wall, low down, near the mopboard. A streak that
5runs round the room. It goes behind every piece of furniture, except the bed, a long, straight, even smooch, as if it
6had been rubbed over and over. I wonder how it was done and who did it, and what they did it for. Round and round and
7round--round and round and round--it makes me dizzy! I really have discovered something at last. Through watching so
8much at night, when it changes so, I have finally found out. The front pattern does move--and no wonder! The woman
9behind shakes it! Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around
10fast, and her crawling shakes it all over. Then in the very bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots
11she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard. And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could
12climb through that pattern--it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads. They get through, and then the
13pattern strangles them off and turns them upside-down, and makes their eyes white! If those heads were covered or taken
14off it would not be half so bad. I think that woman gets out in the daytime! And I'll tell you why--privately--I've seen
15her! I can see her out of every one of my windows! It is the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most
16women do not creep by daylight. I see her on that long shaded lane, creeping up and down. I see her in those dark grape
17arbors, creeping all around the garden. I see her on that long road under the trees, creeping along, and when a carriage
18comes she hides under the blackberry vines. I don't blame her a bit. It must be very humiliating to be caught creeping
19by daylight! I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect
20something at once. And John is so queer now, that I don't want to irritate him. I wish he would take another room!
21Besides, I don't want anybody to get that woman out at night but myself. I often wonder if I could see her out of all
22the windows at once. But, turn as fast as I can, I can only see out of one at one time. And though I always see her she
23may be able to creep faster than I can turn! I have watched her sometimes away off in the open country, creeping as fast
24as a cloud shadow in a high wind. If only that top pattern could be gotten off from the under one! I mean to try it,
25little by little. I have found out another funny thing, but I shan't tell it this time! It does not do to trust people
26too much. There are only two more days to get this paper off, and I believe John is beginning to notice. I don't like
27the look in his eyes. And I heard him ask Jennie a lot of professional questions about me. She had a very good report to
28give. She said I slept a good deal in the daytime. John knows I don't sleep very well at night, for all I'm so quiet! He
29asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving and kind. As if I couldn't see through him! Still,
30I don't wonder he acts so, sleeping under this paper for three months. It only interests me, but I feel sure John and
31Jennie are secretly affected by it. Hurrah! This is the last day, but it is enough. John is to stay in town over night,
32and won't be out until this evening. Jennie wanted to sleep with me--the sly thing! but I told her I should undoubtedly
33rest better for a night all alone. That was clever, for really I wasn't alone a bit! As soon as it was moonlight, and
34that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and ran to help her. I pulled and she shook, I shook and
35she pulled, and before morning we had peeled off yards of that paper. A strip about as high as my head and half around
36the room. And then when the sun came and that awful pattern began to laugh at me I declared I would finish it to-day! We
37go away to-morrow, and they are moving all my furniture down again to leave things as they were before. Jennie looked at
38the wall in amazement, but I told her merrily that I did it out of pure spite at the vicious thing. She laughed and said
39she wouldn't mind doing it herself, but I must not get tired. How she betrayed herself that time! But I am here, and no
40person touches this paper but me--not alive! She tried to get me out of the room--it was too patent! But I said it was
41so quiet and empty and clean now that I believed I would lie down again and sleep all I could; and not to wake me even
42for dinner--I would call when I woke. So now she is gone, and the servants are gone, and the things are gone, and there
43is nothing left but that great bedstead nailed down, with the canvas mattress we found on it. We shall sleep downstairs
44to-night, and take the boat home to-morrow. I quite enjoy the room, now it is bare again. How those children did tear
45about here! This bedstead is fairly gnawed! But I must get to work. I have locked the door and thrown the key down into
46the front path. I don't want to go out, and I don't want to have anybody come in, till John comes. I want to astonish
47him. I've got a rope up here that even Jennie did not find. If that woman does get out, and tries to get away, I can tie
48her! But I forgot I could not reach far without anything to stand on! This bed will not move! I tried to lift and push
49it until I was lame, and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner--but it hurt my teeth. Then I peeled
50off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor. It sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it! All those
51strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision! I am getting angry enough to do
52something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try.
53Besides I wouldn't do it. Of course not. I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued.
54I don't like to look out of the windows even--there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I
55wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did? But I am securely fastened now by my well-hidden rope--you don't
56get me out in the road there! I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is
57hard! It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please! I don't want to go outside. I won't,
58even if Jennie asks me to. For outside you have to creep on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow. But
59here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose
60my way. Why, there's John at the door! It is no use, young man, you can't open it! How he does call and pound! Now he's
61crying for an axe. It would be a shame to break down that beautiful door! "John dear!" said I in the gentlest voice,
62"the key is down by the front steps, under a plantain leaf!" That silenced him for a few moments. Then he said--very
63quietly indeed, "Open the door, my darling!" "I can't," said I. "The key is down by the front door under a plantain
64leaf!" And then I said it again, several times, very gently and slowly, and said it so often that he had to go and see,
65and he got it, of course, and came in. He stopped short by the door. "What is the matter?" he cried. "For God's sake,
66what are you doing!" I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder. "I've got out at last,"
67said I, "in spite of you and Jane! And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" Now why should that
68man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!
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