Presently they entered Methodist Hall—so named, as they were assured by their guide, "because it's a heap too dry for the Baptis'." In this place was the natural pulpit from which—so tradition says—Booth once delivered Hamlet's soliloquy.
Next they came to Gothic Avenue, where their way lay along piles of stone erected by admirers of famous men, States, and so on. There was one little pile which seemed to have been neglected, and Miss Kitty asked whose it was. On being told that it was the Old Maid's Monument, she exclaimed: "I shall find nothing nearer my heart!" and, picking up a stone, carefully balanced it on the top of the pile. But in spite of her care, it rolled off. "That's a shore sign, Miss, that you ain't gwine to be a ole maid."
"Can it be!" she said, as the elders of the company laughingly congratulated her. "Once more I feel a breath of hope."
By and by they reached Register Hall, which has been aptly described as a huge autograph album, for on its ceiling, smoked by burning candles, can be found names and addresses from all parts of the world, while address cards are placed in numberless nooks and crevices. Here Gretta sat in the arm-chair in which, so it is said, Jenny Lind once sat and sang.
The next thing which pleased all of them, and particularly Fannie, was the water clock—a tick-tock sound made by the dropping of a little stream of water into a pool below—and they all laughed at William when he said, "But it ain't a eight-day clock, because it runs down every twenty-four hours."
When they saw the Giant's Coffin they looked upon it with awe—for it was a gruesome sight enough—until Mr. Allen said in a loud aside to Mr. Van Orten:
"This is the coffin in which the Warrior Maidens deposit the bodies of their victims."
Mrs. Allen smiled faintly, but Miss Kitty—more at Mr. Van Orten's puzzled expression than at the speech itself—laughed outright. Winnie and Ernestine had not heard, and Gretta hardly knew whether to laugh or be offended, until Fannie and Miriam, catching the joke, re-echoed Miss Kitty's laugh.
From a crevice behind the Giant's Coffin they went slipping and sliding down an incline, and then up and down, till they came to a small, round opening in what seemed to be a solid wall. "Stay here," said the guide; and he disappeared through the hole with his lights. Then he called to them, and, peering through the aperture, they found it to be a natural window opening into a great, beautiful chamber—Gorin's Dome, considered by many, said the guide, to be the finest room in the Cave, with its immense extent, measuring two hundred feet from floor to ceiling, and covering an entire acre of space.
From here they went to the pits, and, standing on the Bridge of Sighs, a lowered ball of flame showed them that they were directly suspended over the deepest, known as the Bottomless Pit. Winnie and Gretta caught their breath quickly, and Ernestine's hand tightened on her uncle's arm; indeed, the whole party was glad to get away from that dangerous spot.