I will go call Bufferio, he is engaged at play in the neighborhood.

Should any one knock at the door during my absence, pay no attention to it; I will lock the door on the outside and take the key with me." The man looked at her surprised and troubled.

Her bony limbs, the gray locks which fell upon her cheeks, her large mouth and long teeth, made her appear to his eyes a hideous being, a worthy companion for Bufferio.
He listened to the sound of her receding steps, until he heard the key grate in the lock of the door.
Then he looked around him and examined with mistrust and surprise the apartment of Bufferio and the objects it contained.
The room was neither well furnished nor clean: a table, three rickety chairs, an oaken bench, a few earthenware vessels near the fireplace, and a bed, constituted all the furniture.

It was not, however, these common objects which fixed the gaze of the visitor.

What he could not see without shuddering, was the number of strange arms suspended all around the walls of the room.