The Ghost of Guir House - Page 23/80

It was past midnight before a movement was made for bed, and when Ah

Ben brought a lighted candle, inquiring if everything in the

bedchamber had been satisfactory, Paul was about to reply in the

affirmative, when he suddenly remembered the staircase in the closet.

"I was about to forget," he said, "but would you mind explaining the

object of a very peculiar staircase I discovered in the closet of my

room?"

"This house is old," Ah Ben replied simply. "It was built when the

State was a colony and full of Indians. The stairway communicating

with the lower floor was doubtless intended as a means of escape. I

had not thought of this annoying you, but can readily see how it

might. You shall be removed to another room at once."

"Removed?" exclaimed Paul. "My dear sir, I had no intention of

making such a suggestion. The most I thought of asking for was a bolt

for the door, or scuttle; but since your explanation I do not wish

either."

They bade each other good night, and Paul undertook to find his room

alone, declining Ah Ben's offer to accompany him. But the house was

full of strange passages and unexpected stairways, making the task

more difficult than he had expected. After wandering about he found

himself stopped by a dead wall, at least so it had looked, but

suddenly directly before him stood Ah Ben.

"I thought you might need my assistance," he said quietly; and then

without appearing to notice Henley's astonishment, led the way to his

room.

When Paul found himself alone, he became conscious of a growing

curiosity concerning the stairs in the closet. He opened the door and

looked in, and then quietly lifted the scuttle by the ring. He peered

down into the darkness, but, as the stairs were winding, could

discern nothing for more than a half dozen steps below. He listened,

but the house was perfectly quiet, Ah Ben's retreating footsteps

having died upon the air. Somehow he half doubted the story which the

old man had told him about the original intention of the stairway as

a means of escape. It seemed improbable, and dated back to such a

remote period that he could not help feeling distrustful. Candle in

hand, he commenced to descend, looking carefully where he placed his

feet. As everywhere else, the woodwork was worm-eaten, and the

timbers set up a dismal creaking under the weight of his body, but he

had undertaken to investigate the meaning of this architectural

eccentricity, and would not now turn back. On he crept, noiselessly

as possible, adown the twisting stairs, carefully looking ahead for

pitfalls and unsuspected developments. Once he paused, thinking he

heard the distant tread of a foot, but the sound died away, and he

resumed his course. Some of the steps were so broken and rotten that

extreme caution was necessary to avoid falling. At last he reached

the ground, and found himself at the bottom of a square well, around

the four walls of which the stairs had been built. He was facing a

massive door, which occupied one of the sides of the well. Paul tried

the lock, but it was so old and rust-eaten that it refused to move.

There was no other outlet, and the place was narrow and damp. He

looked wistfully at the solitary door, feeling a vague suspicion that

it barred the entrance to a mystery, and resolved to return at some

future time, when not so harassed with sleepiness and the fatigues of

travel, and make another effort to open it. Paul looked above, and as

he did so a gust of air swept down the narrow opening and blew out

his light; at the same instant he heard the fall of the scuttle and

realized that he was shut in.