Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 1.djvu/73

 to the sound of our footsteps; a long narrow passage led to a spacious court-yard, paved with stones; now we espied a spiral stair-case of stone, and ascended it in dumb silence. A second long and narrow passage, which received a faint glimmering of light through several small windows, strongly garded by iron bars, led us to a black door; the chilly damps of the long confined air rushed from the aperture when the Lieutenant had pushed it open; the apartment to which it led bore the gloomy appearance of a prison—the remains of half-decayed tapestry, covered with cobwebs, gave the room a dark dreary appearance; pieces of broken furniture were scattered about on the floor, a lamp hung in the middle on an iron chain fastened to the arched ceiling."

Just as we were going to leave this abode of gloominess and horror, I perceived a little door in the remotest corner of the room, it was likewise unbolted, and we entered a second room, which bore the same