In dead silence the three passed the
door, which was immediately locked behind them, and followed their
guide through several garden alleys to the kitchen entrance of the
house. A single candle burned in the great paved kitchen, which
was destitute of the customary furniture; and as the party
proceeded to ascend from thence by a flight of winding stairs, a
prodigious noise of rats testified still more plainly to the
dilapidation of the house.
Their conductor preceded them, carrying the candle. He was a lean
man, much bent, but still agile; and he turned from time to time
and admonished silence and caution by his gestures. Colonel
Geraldine followed on his heels, the case of swords under one arm,
and a pistol ready in the other. Brackenbury's heart beat thickly.
He perceived that they were still in time; but he judged from the
alacrity of the old man that the hour of action must be near at
hand; and the circumstances of this adventure were so obscure and
menacing, the place seemed so well chosen for the darkest acts,
that an older man than Brackenbury might have been pardoned a
measure of emotion as he closed the procession up the winding
stair.
At the top the guide threw open a door and ushered the three
officers before him into a small apartment, lighted by a smoky lamp
and the glow of a modest fire. At the chimney corner sat a man in
the early prime of life, and of a stout but courtly and commanding
appearance.
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