Bidding the driver wait for me I passed within.
I went up a flight of steps, under Ionic pillars, to the double hall door.

I found that that, too, stood open, and I went into the hall, which was very dark despite the June sunshine without.

It was an imposing hall paved with black and white marble, and the stairs ascending from it were of the same material.

I was struck by the beautiful stucco work of the walls and ceiling.

But dust and grime lay on everything and the air of the place struck cold.
I went back to the hall door and rang the bell, which echoed somewhere down in the lower regions of the house; but there was not a sound except that.
I rang again, and still no result, and the influence of the shut-up and abandoned house with all its shadows and memories began to chill me.