high, the front portion of which was occupied by a long table, behind
which were ranged nine chairs, the middle chair being of a much more
ornate character than the rest, the carving of it being ecclesiastical
in character, and upon the table, before each chair, was a supply of
paper, pens and ink. The dais was a wooden structure, and was carpeted
with black material; the tablecloth also was black, with the sacred
monogram I.H.S. above a cross and surmounted by a crown of thorns
embroidered upon it in silver thread. The floor of the remaining part
of the chamber was flagged with paving slabs, and was bare, while the
walls and ceiling were coloured black. In the centre of the wall behind
the dais, between two of the four windows, hung an enormous crucifix,
the figure of the Redeemer, very finely carved in wood and realistically
painted in the colours of nature, being life-size. At the end of the
room opposite the dais was an engine or machine which even those who had
never seen such a thing before might easily have identified as a rack;
and there were four chairs, two on either side of the room, of such
elaborate and sinister construction that there could be no question as
to their being designed for the purpose of inflicting various kinds of
ingenious and exquisite agony upon the unhappy occupants; while, in
addition to these there was an instrument which clearly betrayed itself
as a specimen of the notorious "boot." Hung here and there upon the
walls were other curious-looking instruments, the uses of which were not
so readily determinable; and there were also a number of suggestive and
sinister-looking ropes and pulleys depending from the ceiling.

Such a room, so furnished, could not possibly fail to fix the attention
of any person entering it for the first time, even in the character of a
mere spectator, and George Saint Leger gazed about him for quite a
minute with a feeling of keen curiosity that rapidly changed to mingled
horror and anger as he began to recognise the character and purpose of
the several objects that met his gaze; and then he turned to its
occupants; for although, in order to present a clear and unconfused
picture of the chamber, only its inanimate contents have thus far been
referred to, the room was by no means empty of human occupants. On the
contrary, in addition to those who had already entered, immediately
inside the door, one on either side of it, stood two of Basset's men-at-
arms, wi