“Yes.”
“And what looks like a huge iron bolt set close to that small round shaft of stone which runs clear to the ceiling?”
“Yes.”
“If you will step upon that block, and press your foot firmly upon that bolt, you will find that this stone pillar will begin to slide slowly down. When you have descended about four feet you will see a short flight of stone steps; step upon these and this shaft will return to its place. Follow the stone steps and they will lead you to a comfortable room; I left the door open, and there is a light within, so that you will have no difficulty in finding the way.”
“But you—you will have to return here,” Brownie said, hesitatingly.
It all seemed so wonderful and mysterious to her, that for a moment she could scarcely comprehend it.
“As soon as the shaft returns to its place, I will join you; only one can go at a time, because the platform is so narrow,” he replied.
Brownie lifted her clear eyes once more and searched his face.
It was a noble countenance, and full of marks of pain and patient suffering, and while she looked it seemed suddenly to grow strangely like some other face which she had seen, but whose she could not at that moment recall.
“Yes, I will go,” she said, and stepped upon that semi-circular block of stone.