He ascended to the other floors more gently, holding aloft his candle, lighting all the corners before which he had to pass.

The great fantastic shadows that come and go, in ascending a staircase with a light, caused him vague discomfort, as they suddenly rose and disappeared before him.
As soon as he was upstairs, and had rapidly opened his door and shut himself in, his first care was to look under his bed, and make a minute inspection of the room to see that nobody was concealed there.

He closed the window in the roof thinking someone might perhaps get in that way, and feeling more calm after taking these measures, he undressed, astonished at his cowardice.

He ended by laughing and calling himself a child.

Never had he been afraid, and he could not understand this sudden fit of terror.
He went to bed.