fire not being made in the best bedroom;
but, then, I was not warned of your coming, madam."

"Madam? Is the old woman crazed? This child is no 'madam.' She is Miss
Black, my ward, the daughter of a deceased friend," sharply exclaimed
Old Hurricane.

"Excuse me, miss; I did not know; I was unprepared to receive a young
lady. Shall I attend you, Miss Black?" said the old lady, in a mollified
tone.

"If you please," said Capitola, who arose to follow her.

"Not expecting you, miss, I have no proper room prepared; most of them
are not furnished, and in some the chimneys are foul; indeed, the only
tolerable room I can put you in is the room with the trap-door--if you
would not object to it," said Mrs. Condiment, as with a candle in her
hand she preceded Capitola along the gloomy hall and then opened a door
that led into a narrow passage.

"A room with a trap-door? That's a curious thing; but why should I
object to it? I don't at all. I think I should rather like it," said
Capitola.

"I will show it to you and tell you about it, and then if you like it,
well and good. If not, I shall have to put you in a room that leaks and
has swallows' nests in the chimney," answered Mrs. Condiment, as she led
the way along the narrow passages and up and down dark back stairs and
through bare and deserted rooms and along other passages until she
reached a remote chamber, opened the door and invited her guest to
enter.

It was a large, shadowy room, through which the single candle shed such
a faint, uncertain light that at first Capitola could see nothing but
black masses looming through the darkness.

But when Mrs. Condiment advanced and set the candle upon the
chimney-piece, and Capitola's sight accommodated itself to the scene,
she saw that upon the right of the chimney-piece stood a tall tester
bedstead, curtained with very dark crimson serge; on the left hand,
thick curtains of the same color draped the two windows. Between the
windows, directly opposite the bed, stood a dark mahogany dressing
bureau with a large looking-glass; a washstand in the left-hand corner
of the chimney-piece, and a rocking-chair and two plain chairs completed
the furniture of this room that I am particular in describing, as upon
the simple accident of its arrangement depended, upon two occasions, the
life and honor of its occupant. There was no carpet on the floor, with
the exception of a large, old Turkey rug that was laid before the
fireplace.