rned the handles. The first two I tried were locked, but the third was
not. When I saw it yield to my hand, I confess I felt so startled that I
drew back for a moment; but curiosity conquered--I looked in. The dim
light admitted by the Venetian blinds showed me a small apartment,
scantily furnished, which might have been a _salon_ or an ante-room. Two
small tables standing against the wall, a few chairs covered with yellow
damask, and a pier-glass, were all it contained; but at the opposite end
there was another open door: so, half-pleased and half-frightened, I
walked forward, and found myself in what had formerly been a
prettily-furnished boudoir. Marble slabs, settees covered with blue
velvet, chairs and curtains of the same, and three or four round or oval
mirrors in elaborately-carved gilt frames, designated this as the lady's
apartment. A third door, which was also open, showed me a bed in an
alcove, with a blue velvet dais and a fringed counterpane of the same
material. Here I found a toilet-table, also covered with what had once
been white muslin, and on it stood several China-boxes and bottles. In
one of the former there were some remains of a red powder, which
appeared to have been _rouge_; and on lifting the lid of another I
became sensible of the odor of musk. The looking-glass that stood on the
table had a drapery of muslin and blue bows round the frame; and the
old-fashioned mahogany chest of drawers was richly gilt and ornamented.
None of these rooms was papered; all appeared to be plastered or
stuccoed, and were elaborately adorned with designs and gilt mouldings,
except in one place, which seemed to have formerly been a door--the door
of a closet probably; but it was now built up--the plaster, however,
being quite coarse and unadorned, and not at all in keeping with any
thing else in the room. It was also broken, indented, and blackened in
several places, as if it had been battered with some heavy weapon.
Somehow or other, there was nothing that fixed my attention so much as
this door! I examined it--- I laid my hand upon it. Why should it have
been so hastily built up, to the disfigurement of the wall? for the
coarseness of the plaster and the rudeness of the work denoted haste. I
was standing opposite to it, and asking myself this question, when I
heard a heavy foot approaching; and before I had time to move, I saw the
astonished face of an elderly man in clerical attire standing in the
doorway. I belie