If only they were all in bed, he thought, that he might find his way to the larder! For he said to himself that, as he was sent there by the young princess's great-great-grandmother to serve her or her father in some way, surely he must have a right to his food in the Palace, without which he could do nothing.

He would go at once and reconnoitre.
So he crept up the stair that led from the cellar.

At the top was a door, opening on a long passage dimly lighted by a lamp.

He told Lina to lie down upon the stair while he went on.

At the end of the passage he found a door ajar, and, peering through, saw right into a great stone hall, where a huge fire was blazing, and through which men in the king's livery were constantly coming and going.