I had often thought of the manuscript fragment, and repeatedly
tried to discover some way of releasing it, but in vain: I could
not find out what held it fast.

But I had for some time intended a thorough overhauling of the books
in the closet, its atmosphere causing me uneasiness as to their
condition. One day the intention suddenly became a resolve, and
I was in the act of rising from my chair to make a beginning, when
I saw the old librarian moving from the door of the closet toward
the farther end of the room. I ought rather to say only that
I caught sight of something shadowy from which I received the
impression of a slight, stooping man, in a shabby dress-coat reaching
almost to his heels, the tails of which, disparting a little as he
walked, revealed thin legs in black stockings, and large feet in
wide, slipper-like shoes.

At once I followed him: I might be following a shadow, but I
never doubted I was following something. He went out of the
library into the hall, and across to the foot of the great
staircase, then up the stairs to the first floor, where lay the
chief rooms. Past these rooms, I following close, he continued
his way, through a wide corridor, to the foot of a narrower stair
leading to the second floor. Up that he went also, and when I
reached the top, strange as it may seem, I found myself in a region
almost unknown to me. I never had brother or sister to incite to
such romps as make children familiar with nook and cranny; I was a
mere child when my guardian took me away; and I had never seen the
house again until, about a month before, I returned to take
possession.