Page 168 (1/1)

Ah, it ell! Beast linked to beast--what need of priest in the fierceof such creatures of the dusk? He was hers, and she his by all laws of nature, and in the eternal fitness of things vast and savage They ht of forests; theyever inexorably ard

So, I turned and descended into the cellar There was little light here, and I cared not to strike flint Groping about I touched with my foot remains of bottles of earthenware, then an to ascend

The stairway seemed steeper and th Then, in a second, it flashed onupward fro; I gave a gentle push, and a trap-door lifted, adht of stairs, up which I warily felt my way This must end in another trap-door on the second floor--I understood that--and began to reach upward, feeling about blindly until my hands fell on a bolt This I drew; it was not rusty, and did not creak, and, as I slid it back, to reasy The bolt had been recently oiled!

[1] Evidences of this stairway still exist in the ancient house of Walter Butler

Now all alert as a gray wolf sniffing a strange trail that cuts his own, I warily lifted the trap to a finger's breadth The crack of light dazzled rew clearer; I saw a low, oblongunder the eaves of the steep, pointed roof; and, through it, the sunlight falling on the bare floor of a room all littered with papers, torn letters, and tape-bound documents of every description Could these be the Butler papers? I had heard that all documents had been seized by the commissioners after the father and son had fled But the honorable commissioners of sequestration had evidently never suspected this stairway

In spite of myself I started! How had I, then, entered it? So the secret door open in the cellar, and I, groping about, had chanced upon it But whoever left it open must have been acquainted with the house--an intimate here, if not one of the family!

When had this unknown entered? Was any one here now? At the thoughtbristles Was I alone in this house?