The person who had admitted them had left them in total darkness, so it was no easy matter making one’s way about. At last Justin came to a flight of stairs leading upward, and bidding his sister take his arm, they ascended.
On reaching the upper hall, Justin whispered:
“Listen; do you hear anything?”
There was an unmistakable murmur proceeding from some dark room in their vicinity, and then an angry voice spoke aloud:
“Why the foul fiend, then, didn’t you take them in to see the old woman?”
The muttering voice made some reply, to which the loud voice responded:
“Bosh! What danger? That’s all over now. The verdict of the coroner’s inquest settled that. Suicide. Nothing more likely. After that there was nothing more to be said.”
A blaze of lightning that flashed through every chink and crevice of the shut-up old house, and a crash of thunder that overwhelmed all other sounds, stopped the talk of the unseen companions.
Then the muttering voice was heard again, saying something offensive to the interlocutor, though inaudible to the listeners, for the loud voice replied:
“Drinking; no, I have not been drinking! At least not more than is good for me! The moment any one takes a deep breath and shows a little fearlessness, you think they’ve been—drinking! Go and look after the people you have left in the hall so long, and take them up to see the old woman. That is, if she wants to see them. You must humor her; but as for the girl——”