What the Portraits Heard

You are Imogen Crale, niece of the late Aldous Crale, and you have come to Greyhollow Manor to collect a single item: the family ring your uncle promised you before he died. The solicitor said it was 'somewhere obvious' in the portrait gallery. The gallery is long, dim, and lined with ancestors who all share your uncle's talent for looking slightly disappointed. One bookcase, you notice, is not flush to the wall. And from somewhere behind it, very quietly, comes a hum.