It was a very long passage, and to-night, somehow, it seemed longer than ever.

In fact, Griselda could have fancied she had been running along it for half a mile or more, when at last she was brought to a standstill by finding she could go no further.

Where was she?
She could not imagine! It must be a part of the house she had never explored in the daytime, she decided.

In front of her was a little stair running downwards, and ending in a doorway.

All this Griselda could see by a bright light that streamed in by the keyhole and through the chinks round the door--a light so brilliant that the little girl blinked her eyes, and for a moment felt quite dazzled and confused.
"It came so suddenly," she said to herself; "some one must have lighted a lamp in there all at once.