tright, but the chirurgeon in
attendance pronounced that he was only stunned by the blow.

CHAPTER XIV.

The private Cabinet of Sir Giles Mompesson.

A small room, and rendered yet smaller by the numerous chests and strong
boxes encroaching upon its narrow limits. In some cases these boxes are
piled, one upon another, till they touch the ceiling. All of them look
stout enough, yet many are further strengthened by iron hoops and
broad-headed nails, and secured by huge padlocks. The door is cased with
iron, within and without, and has a ponderous lock, of which the master
of the room always keeps the key, and never trusts it out of his own
hand.

This small chamber is the private cabinet of Sir Giles Mompesson.

No one is permitted to enter it without him. Though his myrmidons are
fully aware of its existence, and can give a shrewd guess at its
contents, only two of them have set foot within it. The two thus
privileged are Clement Lanyere and Lupo Vulp. Neither the promoter nor
the scrivener are much in the habit of talking over their master's
affairs, even with their comrades, and are almost as habitually reserved
as he is himself; still, from the few words let fall by them from time
to time, the myrmidons have picked up a tolerable notion of the private
cabinet, of its hidden cupboards in the walls, its drawers with secret
springs; its sliding planks with hollows beneath them; its chests full
of treasure, or what is the same thing as treasure, bonds,
mortgage-deeds, and other securities; and its carefully concealed hoards
of plate, jewels, and other valuables. Some of the least scrupulous
among them--such as Staring, Hugh, Cutting Dick, and old Tom
Wootton--have often discussed the possibility of secretly visiting it,
and making a perquisition of its stores; but they have been hitherto
restrained by their fears of their terrible and vindictive master.

On looking into the cabinet we find Sir Giles seated at a table, with a
large chest open beside him, from which he has taken for examination
sundry yellow parchments, with large seals attached to them. He is now
occupied with a deed, on one of the skins of which the plan of an
important estate is painted, and on this his attention becomes fixed.
His countenance is cadaverous, and its ghastly hue adds to its grimness
of expression. A band is tied round his head, and there is an expression
of pain in his face, and an air of languor and debility in his manner,