the occasional absence of general with much positive cheerfulness it was in his presence that felt the smallest fatigue from her journey and even then even in moments of languor or restraint a sense of general happiness abbey and she could think of her friends in bath without one wish of being with them the night was the wind had been rising at intervals the whole and by the time the party broke up it blew and rained as she crossed the hall listened to the tempest with sensations of awe and when she heard it rage round a corner of the ancient building and close with sudden fury a distant door felt for the first time that she was really in an abbey yes these were characteristic sounds they brought to her recollection a countless variety of dreadful situations and horrid scenes which such buildings had witnessed and such storms ushered in and most did she rejoice in the happier circumstances attending her entrance within walls so solemn she had nothing to dread from midnight or drunken henry had been only iii jest in what he had told her that morning in a house so furnished and so guarded she could have nothing to explore or to suffer and might go to her bedroom as securely as if it had been her own chamber at thus her mind as she proceeded upstairs she was enabled on perceiving that miss slept two doors from her to enter room with a tolerably stout heart and her spirits were assisted by the cheerful blaze of a how much better is this said she as she walked to the how much better to find a fire ready lit than to have to wait shivering in the cold till all the r are in bed as so man poor girls have been obliged to do and then to have a faithful old servant one by c� in with a how glad i am that is what it is if it had been like some other places i do not know that in such a night as this i could have answered for my courage but now to be sure there is nothing to alarm one she looked round the room the window curtains seemed in motion it could be nothing but the violence chapters from of the wind penetrating through the divisions of the s and she stepped boldly forward carelessly humming a tune to assure herself of its being so l behind each curtain saw nothing on either low window seat to scare her and on placing a hand against the felt the strongest conviction of the wind s force a glance at the old chest as she turned away from this examination was not without its use she scorned the fears of an idle fancy and began with the most happy ence to prepare herself for bed she should take her time she should not hunt herself she did not care if she were the last person up in the house but she would not make up her fire that would seem cowardly as if she wished for the protection of light after she were in bed the fire therefore died and having spent the best part of an hour in her arrangements was to think of stepping into bed when on giving a glance round the ix om she was struck by the ai of a high old fashioned black cabinet which though in a situation conspicuous enough had never caught her notice before s words his description of the cabinet which was to e her at st rushed across her and though there could be nothing really in it there was something u it was certainly a very remarkable coincidence she took her candle and looked at the cabinet it was not absolutely and gold but it was � black and yellow of the kind and as held her candle the yellow had much the effect of gold the key was in the door and she bad a strange oo i into it not however with the smallest expectation of finding anything but it was so very odd after what henry had said in short she could not sleep till she had examined it so placing the candle with great caution on a chair she seized the key with a very tremulous hand and tried to turn it but it her utmost strength abbey alarmed but not she tried it another way a bolt flew and she believed herself successful but how strangely mysterious � the door was still immovable she paused a moment in breathless wonder the wind roared down the chimney the rain beat in torrents against the windows and everything seemed to speak the of her situation to retire to bed however on such a point would be vain since sleep must be impossible with the consciousness of a cabinet so mysteriously closed in immediate vicinity again therefore she applied herself to the key and after moving it in every possible way for some with the determined of hope s last effort the door suddenly yielded to her hand her heart leaped with exultation at such a victory and having thrown open each folding door the second being secured only by of less wonderful construction than the lock � though in that her e e could not discern anything unusual � a double range of small drawers appeared in view with some larger drawers above and below them and in the centre a small door closed also with a lock and ke secured in all probability a of importance s heart beat quick but her courage did not fail her with a cheek flushed by hope and an eye straining with her fingers grasped the handle of a drawer and drew it forth it was entirely with less alarm and greater eagerness she seized a second a third a fourth � each was equally empty not one 