cealed by its being
opened. It must be done, thought Philip: and why not at once? continued
he, resuming his courage; and, with a firm step, he walked into the room
and went to unfasten the shutters. If his hand trembled a little when
he called to mind how supernaturally they had last been opened, it is
not surprising. We are but mortal, and we shrink from contact with
aught beyond this life. When the fastenings were removed and the
shutters unfolded, a stream of light poured into the room so vivid as to
dazzle his eyesight; strange to say, this very light of a brilliant day
overthrew the resolution of Philip more than the previous gloom and
darkness had done; and with the candle in his hand, he retreated hastily
into the kitchen to re-summon his courage, and there he remained for
some minutes with his face covered, and in deep thought.

It is singular that his reveries at last ended by reverting to the fair
daughter of Mynheer Poots, and her first appearance at the window; and
he felt as if the flood of light which had just driven him from the one,
was not more impressive and startling than her enchanting form at the
other. His mind dwelling upon this beauteous vision appeared to restore
Philip's confidence; he now rose and boldly walked into the room. We
shall not describe the objects it contained as they chanced to meet the
eyes of Philip, but attempt a more lucid arrangement.

The room was about twelve or fourteen feet square, with but one window;
opposite to the door stood the chimney and fireplace, with a high buffet
of dark wood on each side. The floor of the room was not dirty,
although about its upper parts spiders had run their cobwebs in every
direction. In the centre of the ceiling hung a quicksilver globe, a
common ornament in those days, but the major part of it had lost its
brilliancy, the spiders' webs enclosing it like a shroud. Over the
chimney-piece were hung two or three drawings, framed and glazed, but a
dusty mildew was spotted over the glass, so that little of them could be
distinguished. In the centre of the mantelpiece was an image of the
Virgin Mary, of pure silver, in a shrine of the same metal, but it was
tarnished to the colour of bronze or iron; some Indian figures stood on
each side of it. The glass doors of the buffets on each side of the
chimney-piece were also so dimmed that little of what was within could
be distinguished: the light and heat which had been poured into the
r