der his special protection, to
show him over the house. He had heard the other servants say there was
such a power of fine things that a peep into the rooms was as good as
a show, and the valet felt pride in being cicerone even to Beck. After
having stared sufficiently at the banquet-hall and the drawing-room, the
armour, the busts, and the pictures, and listened, open-mouthed, to his
guide's critical observations, Beck was led up the great stairs into
the old family picture-gallery, and into Sir Miles's ancient room at the
end, which had been left undisturbed, with the bed still in the
angle; on returning thence, Beck found himself in the corridor which
communicated with the principal bedrooms, in which he had lost himself
the night before.

"And vot room be that vith the littul vite 'ead h-over the door?" asked
Beck, pointing to the chamber from which Madame Dalibard had emerged.

"That white head, Master Beck, is Floorer the goddess; but a heathen
like you knows nothing about goddesses. Floorer has a half-moon in her
hair, you see, which shows that the idolatrous Turks worship her; for
the Turkish flag is a half-moon, as I have seen at Constantinople. I
have travelled, Beck."

"And vot room be it? Is it the master's?" persisted Beck.

"No, the pretty young lady, Miss Mainwaring, has it at present. There is
nothing to see in it. But that one opposite," and the valet advanced
to the door through which Madame Dalibard had disappeared,--"that is
curious; and as Madame is out, we may just take a peep." He opened
the door gently, and Beck looked in. "This, which is called the
turret-chamber, was Madame's when she was a girl, I have heard old Bessy
say; so Master pops her there now. For my part, I'd rather sleep in your
little crib than have those great gruff-looking figures staring at me
by the firelight, and shaking their heads with every wind on a winter's
night." And the valet took a pinch of snuff as he drew Beck's attention
to the faded tapestry on the walls. As they spoke, the draught between
the door and the window caused the gloomy arras to wave with a life-like
motion; and to those more superstitious than romantic, the chamber had
certainly no inviting aspect.

"I never sees these old tapestry rooms," said the valet, "without
thinking of the story of the lady who, coming from a ball and taking off
her jewels, happened to look up, and saw an eye in one of the figures
which she felt sure was no peeper in worste