With a fearful resolution I slipped out of bed, opened the door as
noiselessly as I might, and crept on my bare, silent feet down the
creaking stair, which led, with open balustrade, right into the
kitchen, at the end furthest from the chimney. The one candle at the
other end could not illuminate its darkness, and I sat unseen, a few
steps from the bottom of the stair, listening with all my ears, and
staring with all my eyes. The stranger's huge cloak hung drying before
the fire, and he was drinking something out of a tumbler. The light
fell full upon his face. It was a curious, and certainly not to me an
attractive face. The forehead was very projecting, and the eyes were
very small, deep set, and sparkling. The mouth--I had almost said
muzzle--was very projecting likewise, and the lower jaw shot in front
of the upper. When the man smiled the light was reflected from what
seemed to my eyes an inordinate multitude of white teeth. His ears were
narrow and long, and set very high upon his head. The hand which he
every now and then displayed in the exigencies of his persuasion, was
white, but very large, and the thumb was exceedingly long. I had
weighty reasons for both suspecting and fearing the man; and, leaving
my prejudices out of the question, there was in the conversation itself
enough besides to make me take note of dangerous points in his
appearance. I never could lay much claim to physical courage, and I
attribute my behaviour on this occasion rather to the fascination of
terror than to any impulse of self-preservation: I sat there in utter
silence, listening like an ear-trumpet. The first words I could
distinguish were to this effect:--

'You do not mean,' said the enemy, 'to tell me, Mr Cumbermede, that you
intend to bring up the young fellow in absolute ignorance of the
decrees of fate?'