little whether she had a light or not. Now she had reached the
corridor and she could not fail to find the door, as there was but
one, that of her own room. She stretched out her hand to open it, but,
strange to say, she missed the knob! Then she was sure that it was
farther on; she felt along the wall, but still it eluded her grasp. It
was unheard of--no handle and not a door even to be found! The wall was
bare and smooth, and papered the entire length. A slight shudder crept
over the courageous little woman's heart, and she could not explain to
herself what it all meant. She called her maid, but no answer--not
a sound interrupted the stillness! "I will go down to the duchess,"
murmured Thusnelda; "perhaps she is awake, and then I can re-light my
taper!"

The door was fastened; the duchess had locked the ante-room to-night for
the first time.

Thusnelda tapped lightly, and begged an entrance humbly and imploringly.
No answer, every thing was quiet. She recalled that the duchess had told
her that she was very weary, and would sleep as soon as she was alone,
which she undoubtedly had done.

Thusnelda did not presume to awake her by knocking louder. She would
be patient, and mount again to her room. Surely she must have made a
mistake, and turned to the left of the corridor, where there was no
door, instead of the right, as she ought to have done. It must be that
it was her fault. She groped along the dark flights of stairs to the
upper gallery, carefully seeking the right this time, but in vain. Again
she felt only the smooth wall. Terrified, she knew not whether she was
awake or dreaming, or whether she might not be in an enchanted castle,
or walking in her sleep in a strange house. Just here she ought to find
her room and the maid awaiting her, but it was lonely, deserted, and
strange--no door, no maid. Thusnelda, with trembling hands smoothed her
face, pulled first her nose, and then her hair, to identify herself.
"Is it I?" she said. "Am I, indeed, myself? Am I awake? I know that I am
lady of honor to the Duchess Amelia, and that upon the upper story is my
room. Do not be foolish, and imagine that witchcraft comes to pass; the
door is there, and it can be found." Thusnelda renewed her search with
out-spread arms and wide-spread fingers, feeling first this side of the
wall and then the other.

By daylight the deformed little lady of honor must have been a very
droll figure, in full toilet, dancing along the wall