The Legend begins at the British Embassy in Paris in 1889. A young
English woman looking distraught and paniced rushes into the embassy. The tale she tells
that day has been passed down from generation to generation, and through fantasy and
fiction ever since.
The young lady and her mother were on their way home from an exihibition in
India and decided to stop in Paris because the mother was feeling a little sick. Because
of the shortage of accomodations in the crowded city, the two ladies had no choice but
to take two seperate sigle bed rooms. The mother chose Room 342, and the young lady
chose room 343. The two rooms were right across the way from each other. Decorated with
rose-strewn wallpaper and plum-colored velvet curtains, room 342 was the better
decorated of the two rooms. The mother went to her room and collapsed on to her bed.
Soon after her mother collapsed , the young lady had a doctor from across
town examine her. After examining the mother and talking excitedly in French with the
hotel manager, the doctor told the young lady that her mother was severaly ill and was
in need of some special medication. But the proper medication that she needed could only
be found in his office on the other side of town. The doctor wrote a note for his wife
and told the daughter to take a carriage across town to his office. He said to give the
note to his wife and she would know what medicine to give her.
The ride across town was unbelievably long. What should have been a
simple trek from the hotel, to the doctor's, and back,consumed four hours. The driver
kept the horses to a slow trot, and seemed to steer the carriage in circles. The
doctor's wife was also slow. Taking a long time to produce the small amount of medicine
needed for the ladies mother.
Finally, after what seemed to be forever,the frustrated daughter arrived
back at the hotel. What she found was astounding. No one there had any idea who the
young lady was talking about when she mentioned her mother. "I know nothing of your
mother," said the manager. "You arrived here alone." Even the doctor, who had just
examined the mother a few hours ago, was similarly confused by the woman's questions.
Frantic now, the young lady demanded to see the hotel registery. Instead of her mother's
familiar signature, she saw a stranger's beside Room 342. The daughter, determined to
find her mother, rushed upstairs and burst into room 342. What she saw dumbfounded her.
There were no velvet curtains, the flowered wallpaper, or her mothers' baggage. The room
was totally different. With white wallpaper, and yellow curtains, and of course, the
luggage of the stanger. That is when the young lady fled from the hotel and ran to the
British Embassy. At the embassy all she received was sympathy, because with no proof of
the mother ever being with her at the hotel, there was nothing they could do for her.
Trapped in a nightmare, the young woman slowly and steadily became mentaly unstable, and
past away years later in a british mental hospital.
