The stairs were very dark, and I noticed that they were without any covering of carpet, or even oilcloth, so that our footsteps resounded dismally as if we were in an empty house. I stumbled up after my guide, feeling my way by the handrail, and on the first floor followed him into a room similar in size to the one below and very barely furnished, though less squalid than the other. A single candle at the farther end threw its feeble light on a figure in the bed, leaving the rest of the room in a dim twilight.

As Mr. Weiss tiptoed into the chamber, a woman⁠—the one who had spoken to me below⁠—rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room by a second door. My conductor halted, and looking fixedly at the figure in the bed, called out:

“Philip! Philip! Here is the doctor come to see you.”

He paused for a moment or two, and, receiving no answer, said: “He seems to be dozing as usual. Will you go and see what you can make of him?”