gazing round, the door by which we had entered closed as quietly as
it had before opened; we were imprisoned.

For the first time I felt a creep of indefinable horror. Not so my
servant. "Why, they don't think to trap us, sir; I could break
that trumpery door with a kick of my foot."

"Try first if it will open to your hand," said I, shaking off the
vague apprehension that had seized me, "while I unclose the
shutters and see what is without."

I unbarred the shutters,--the window looked on the little back yard
I have before described; there was no ledge without,--nothing to
break the sheer descent of the wall. No man getting out of that
window would have found any footing till he had fallen on the
stones below.

F----, meanwhile, was vainly attempting to open the door. He now
turned round to me and asked my permission to use force. And I
should here state, in justice to the servant, that, far from
evincing any superstitious terrors, his nerve, composure, and even
gayety amidst circumstances so extraordinary, compelled my
admiration, and made me congratulate myself on having secured a
companion in every way fitted to the occasion. I willingly gave
him the permission he required. But though he was a remarkably
strong man, his force was as idle as his milder efforts; the door
did not even shake to his stoutest kick. Breathless and panting,
he desisted. I then tried the door myself, equally in vain. As I
ceased from the effort, again that creep of horror came over me;
but this time it was more cold and stubborn. I felt as if some