The house-maid 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.
Mme Reed elle-même la visitait à intervalles éloignés pour examiner certains tiroirs secrets de l'armoire, où étaient renfermés des papiers, sa cassette à bijoux et le portrait de son mari défunt. Ces derniers mots renferment en eux le secret de la chambre rouge, le secret de cet enchantement qui la rendait si déserte malgré sa beauté.