A long time I stood waiting for some reply to my message.

My candle was fast burning out, and I began to fear that after all I was likely to leave the house no wiser than when I had entered it.

Suddenly a door swung on its creaking hinges and a feeble old man, holding a lamp in one hand, stood grinning at me in the opening.

It was the same face that I saw before, but it seemed less ghostly and unnatural now.

Stepping back he beckoned me to enter.