On the wall, flanked by a lute and some odd-looking rubrical calendars, were three or four silver discs, engraved with the signs of the Zodiac; these were hung in such a position as to catch the light which entered through the heavily leaded casement.

On the window-seat below them, a pile of Plantins and Elzevirs threatened to bury a steel casket.

On the table, several rolls of vellum and papyrus, peeping from metal cylinders, leant against a row of brass-bound folios.

A handsome fur covering masked the truckle-bed, but this, too, bore its share of books, as did two or three long trunks covered with stamped and gilded leather which stood against the wall and were so long that the ladies of the day had the credit of hiding their gallants in them.

On stools lay more books, and yet more books, with a medley of other things: a silver flagon, and some weapons, a chess-board, an enamelled triptych and the like.
In a word, this half of the room wore the aspect of a library, low-roofed, dark and richly furnished.