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One of the rusty hinges cracked and broke as I opened the door: it

revealed a nu but

shallow compared with the depth of those around the little cupboard, the

outer ones reaching to the back of the desk, I concluded that there

must be some accessible space behind; and found, indeed, that they were

for pulled

out in one piece

Behind, I found a sort of flexible portcullis of small

bars of wood laid close together horizontally After long search, and

trying many ways to

point of steel on one side I pressed this repeatedly and hard with

the point of an old tool that was lying near, till at length it

yielded inwards; and the little slide, flying up suddenly, disclosed a

chamber--empty, except that in one corner lay a little heap of withered

rose-leaves, whose long-lived scent had long since departed; and, in

another, a small packet of papers, tied with a bit of ribbon, whose