CHAPTER 1.V.The Description of a Conspirator, and the Dawn of the.
Conspiracy.
Alone, by a table covered with various papers, sat a man in the prime of life.

The chamber was low and long; many antique and disfigured bas-reliefs and torsos were placed around the wall, interspersed, here and there, with the short sword and close casque, time-worn relics of the prowess of ancient Rome.

Right above the table at which he sate, the moonlight streamed through a high and narrow casement, deep sunk in the massy wall.

In a niche to the right of this window, guarded by a sliding door, which was now partially drawn aside--but which, by its solid substance, and the sheet of iron with which it was plated, testified how valuable, in the eyes of the owner, was the treasure it protected--were ranged some thirty or forty volumes, then deemed no inconsiderable library; and being, for the most part, the laborious copies in manuscript by the hand of the owner, from immortal originals.
Leaning his cheek on his hand, his brow somewhat knit, his lip slightly compressed, that personage, indulged in meditations far other than the indolent dreams of scholars.

As the high and still moonlight shone upon his countenance, it gave an additional and solemn dignity to features which were naturally of a grave and majestic cast.