At my first entry to the church my mind had been so much taken up with the strangeness of the place, together with the intensity of wish for some sort of clue, that I had really no opportunity of examining detail.

But now detail became necessary, as I had to find the entrance to the crypt.
My puny light could not dissipate the semi-Cimmerian gloom of the vast edifice; I had to throw the feeble gleam into one after another of the dark corners.
At last I found, behind the great screen, a narrow stone staircase which seemed to wind down into the rock.

It was not in any way secret, but being in the narrow space behind the great screen, was not visible except when close to it.

I knew I was now close to my objective, and began to descend.

Accustomed though I have been to all sorts of mysteries and dangers, I felt awed and almost overwhelmed by a sense of loneliness and desolation as I descended the ancient winding steps.