There was a faint glimmer that showed in which
direction the lights were. He lay flat and putting his head beneath
the opening, saw the priests leaning over a chest. Quickly he prepared
to descend and was upon the second rung of the ladder, when the
panelling again opened and a half-dozen faces looked through; anger
and indignation upon all but one, and that was the Russian's, which
bore joy of a discovery. He had gone to the refectory with good intent
to write his letter; but finding a small company of monks gathered
there and they appearing much perturbed, he asked the cause. One
said there was a strange Abbe in the monastery, whose hands were as
bejewelled as any fop's, and that a number had gone in search of him.
The false monk's hand had betrayed him, as 'twas seen from a window as
he uncovered it to open the door. Now Cantemir thought it a good, safe
moment to become a hero and straightway told of his encounter; saying
he was in search of the refectory and had lost his way; making a
plausible story.
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