hint at
now. A bed with a sheet thrown back, a stand covered with vials, a
bureau with a man's shaving paraphernalia upon it, and on the wall such
pictures as only sporting gentlemen delight in. The candle was guttering
on a small table upon which, to my astonishment, a Bible lay open. Not
having my glasses with me, I could not see what portion of the sacred
word was thus disclosed, but I took the precaution to indent the upper
leaf with my thumb-nail, so that I might find it again in case of future
opportunity. My attention was attracted by other small matters that
would be food for thought at a more propitious moment, but at that
instant the sound of voices coming distinctly to my ear from below,
warned me that a halt had been made at the Flower Parlor, and that the
duty of the moment was to locate the trap-door and if possible determine
the means of raising it.

This was less difficult than I anticipated. Either this room was
regarded as so safe from intrusion that a secret like this could be
safely left unguarded, or the door which was plainly to be seen in one
corner had been so lately lifted, that it had hardly sunk back into its
place. I found it, if the expression may be used of a horizontal object,
slightly ajar and needing but the slightest pull to make it spring
upright.

The hole thus disclosed was filled with the little staircase up which I
had partly mounted in my daring explorations of the day before. It was
dark now, darker than it was then, but I felt that I must descend by it,
for plainly to be heard now through the crack in the closet door, which
seemed to have a knack of standing partly open, I could hear the heavy
tread of the six bearers as they entered the parlor below, still
carrying their burden, concerning the destination of which I was so
anxious to be informed.

That it could be in the room itself was too improbable for
consideration. Yet if they took up their stand in this room it was for a
purpose, and what that purpose was I was determined to know. The noise
their feet made on the bare boards of the floor and the few words I now
heard uttered in William's stolid tones and Lucetta's musical treble
assured me that my own light steps would no more be heard, than my dark
gown of quiet wool would be seen through the narrow slit through which I
was preparing to peer. Yet it took no small degree of what my father
used to call pluck, for me to put foot on this winding staircase and
descend al