Close upon his heels I followed in a narrow path, through what seemed to be a large courtyard, overgrown with thick grass.
Presently he stopped, and, taking a bunch of keys from his pocket, unlocked a door in a back wing of the house.

Reaching out until his hand touched me, as if to make sure that I was there, he swung the door open and we stepped into a dimly lighted apartment.

My mysterious guide turned up the wick of a lamp that was burning on a table in the centre of the room.

It was a library, with great shelves of books reaching from floor to ceiling along its walls.

A large galvanic battery, globes, charts and other contrivances that belong to the equipment of a scholar surrounded the table.