The room and all in it gave grounds for strange thoughts.

There were so many ancient relics that unconsciously one was taken back to strange lands and strange times.

There were so many mummies or mummy objects, round which there seemed to cling for ever the penetrating odours of bitumen, and spices and gums--"Nard and Circassia's balmy smells"-- that one was unable to forget the past.

Of course, there was but little light in the room, and that carefully shaded; so that there was no glare anywhere.

None of that direct light which can manifest itself as a power or an entity, and so make for companionship.