"But, Marguerite, you see very well that there is nobody here."
"I can see nothing except darkness. Wait; take the lamp, and you go first, my darling; you have your talisman; nothing will happen to you."
Blanche entered first; she seemed more curious than alarmed, while the old woman could scarcely persuade herself to follow. The closet was six feet square, and held nothing but two big empty chests placed on the floor, which time had covered with dust and spiders' webs.
"Well now, my dear nurse," said Blanche, smiling, "where are the sorcerers? I don't see anything frightful here."
"In fact," answered Marguerite, glancing all about her; "there's nothing but four walls, no other door, and these two chests are empty. I'm sure that no one has disturbed this place for half a century. No matter; I swear to you that I shall not come back here again. I don't know why I feel so uneasy here. How the floor creaks under our feet!"
"It's because no one has walked here for a long time; this house is old."
"Come, my dear child, let us leave this closet; I shall shut the door and double-lock it, and I shan't open it again while I stay in this room."
Thus saying, Marguerite pushed Blanche before her, then closed the little door and double-locked it, murmuring between her teeth,
"Alas! if some sorcerer should wish to open the door that lock would not resist him; but every night I shall cross my shovel and tongs before it."
This visit terminated, Blanche went down, humming to herself the romance of the evening before, and Marguerite returned to her work.