I could see but not feel was laid on mine. All was darkness in
the room, and before me, but the hand guided me two paces
forward, then by a sudden pressure bade me stand. I heard the
sound of a, curtain being drawn behind me, and the next moment
the cover of a rushlight was removed, and a feeble but sufficient
light filled the chamber.

I comprehended that the drawing of that curtain over the window
had cut off my retreat as effectually as if a door had been
closed behind me. But distrust and suspicion gave way the next
moment to the natural embarrassment of the man who finds himself
in a false position and knows he can escape from it only by an
awkward explanation.

The room in which I found myself was long, narrow, and low in the
ceiling; and being hung with some dark stuff which swallowed up
the light, terminated funereally at the farther end in the still
deeper gloom of an alcove. Two or three huge chests, one bearing
the remnants of a meal, stood against the walls. The middle of
the floor was covered with a strip of coarse matting, on which a
small table, a chair and foot-rest, and a couple of stools had
place, with some smaller articles which lay scattered round a
pair of half-filled saddle-bags. The slighter and smaller of the
two figures I had seen stood beside the table, wearing a mask and
riding cloak; and by her silent manner of gazing at me, as well
as by a cold, disdainful bearing, which neither her mask nor
cloak could hide, did more to chill and discomfit me than even my
own knowledge that I had lost the pass-key which should have
admitted me to her confidence.