Up that he went also, and when I reached the top, strange as it may seem, I found myself in a region almost unknown to me.

I never had brother or sister to incite to such romps as make children familiar with nook and cranny; I was a mere child when my guardian took me away; and I had never seen the house again until, about a month before, I returned to take possession.
Through passage after passage we came to a door at the bottom of a winding wooden stair, which we ascended.

Every step creaked under my foot, but I heard no sound from that of my guide.

Somewhere in the middle of the stair I lost sight of him, and from the top of it the shadowy shape was nowhere visible.

I could not even imagine I saw him.
The place was full of shadows, but he was not one of them.
I was in the main garret, with huge beams and rafters over my head, great spaces around me, a door here and there in sight, and long vistas whose gloom was thinned by a few lurking cobwebbed windows and small dusky skylights.