THE CLOSED WING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE CLOSED WING.

(By Merle Goldsmith, 103, .Stout Street, Cigboruc; nge 13.) There; lived in France an old man. Beris Grey, who, being nil invalid, was tumble! to mine about, his house except in a hath chair, hut ho was very wealthy and kjept a large number of servants. Strange, a.s it may seem, none of them !iad ever been into the left \V|Hg of their master's house, which had been closed for about 20 year,-;. Jt was only on ver\ special occasions that the ohl man would pijsh hihiti'lf up to the door, enter and l'cjpck it. wi as to be sure that he would uot be followed. One day the old man became .suddenly ill and the doctors were .sent for. lie was given a drug, but it. was not. expected that he would live long. A lawyer was called in and the old man made hi* will. He added that the servants were to he present at the of the will, which said that the wing was to be opened, but nothing to bo touched until the statement whieli ho had written was read, five yeans later. before the public, explaining why he had closed the wing. On the day after his funeral the key was placed in the lock-of the closed wing and to tho astonishment of all they found themselves confronted with a scene difficult to describe. The walk, ceiling and iloor of the first room were painted to depict ft summer scene, while stuffed .spring birds were to be seen in cages all along the walls. The people were standing wide-eyed with astonishment, but they were destined to receive a greater surprise when they entered the other-rooms. The next was painted with summer tints, while the remaining two were of autumn and winter respectively, the latter sparkling, as if it were in • reality a Polar scene, and all the painting appeared to have been done by an , expert artist. Five years la ter, when the letter was opened it read:— "I, Beris Grey, will now explain my seemingly extraordinary conduct. When I was a young man I married a beautiful girl Iris Graham, who, though brought up and educated in London, was a thorough and loyal French girl. We had three beautiful daughters, of whom We were tremendously fond. They were all sport enthusiasts, but each liked a different season for her special or favourite sport, my dear wife having liked winter best of all. "She was one day sailing with my daughters to America, where they were to enter college, but when the ship struck, an iceberg all were drowned, so I decided to erect a memorial that would always bo with n;e as long as I lived. That memorial you saw in those four rooms. I, when young, was an artist of some standing, so in my spare time I pai.itcd the rooms as you saw them. Above the door of each you will find a Dame in scribed. The names are Gwen, Hilda, Beryl and Iris. "I had just finished the last room when I fell from a ladder and crippled myself for life. My full reason for not letting my servants enter was that I wanted it for myself. —Signed Beris Grey." When the letter had been read a note was found to say that the rooms were not to be destroyed, but to be made public property. This was accordingly done, when the remainder of the building was converted into a public library.