"This way!" he said abruptly, and there was a curious look in his face
that I could not understand. "Here, hold this," he cried, thrusting the
candlestick into my hand; and I held it trembling as he crossed
unsteadily to the gas-jet, turned it down, and then strode out of the
office.
"There!" he said, opening a door, "up there; and get down in good time.
You'll have to clean the boots and things."
"Up there" was up a flight of steps which led into a low sloping-ceiled
chamber that had been evidently meant for a lumber-room, but had now
been fitted up with an old stump bedstead with a coloured counterpane, a
little corner washstand with a cracked jug, a strip of carpet, and a
three-legged painted chest of drawers, which had gone down at one
corner, and left a corresponding leg slightly raised in the air.
The place was cold and miserable, chilling to a degree, but it was
clean; and as I looked round I was surprised by seeing on a chair a heap
of my clothes and a brush and comb.