but I thought you would like it better than one of the large front chambers: to be sure they have finer furniture, but they are so dreary and solitary, I never sleep in them myself.”
I thanked her for her considerate choice, and as I really felt fatigued with my long journey, expressed my readiness to retire. She took her candle, and I followed her from the room.
First she went to see if the hall-door was fastened; having taken the key from the lock, she led the way upstairs.
- The steps and banisters were of oak;
- the staircase window was high and latticed;
- both it and the long gallery into which the bedroom doors opened looked as if they belonged to a church rather than a house.
A very chill and vault-like air pervaded the stairs and gallery, suggesting cheerless ideas of space and solitude; and I was glad, when finally ushered into my chamber, to find it of small dimensions, and furnished in ordinary, modern style.