Did these circumstances justify me in connecting the vase and the book-case as twin landmarks on the way that led to discovery?
The question was not an easy one to decide on the spur of the moment.
I looked up at the higher shelves.
Here the collection of books exhibited a greater variety.

The volumes were smaller, and were not so carefully arranged as on the lower shelves.

Some were bound in cloth, some were only protected by paper covers; one or two had fallen, and lay flat on the shelves.

Here and there I saw empty spaces from which books had been removed and not replaced.

In short, there was no discouraging uniformity in these higher regions of the book-case.