A pleased smile stole slowly over the man's face. He walked down-stairs in the deliberate fashion of a person who has remarkably little to do, and I commenced my tour of investigation. I said to myself--"Drake need not hurry with that tea; I shall not want it for some time." It was delightful to me to be alone in this treasure-house. I could explore, I could examine, I could pause, I could think. The furniture, the carpets, the curtains were all full of story, and alive with associations. I walked from room to room. My mother, had she been with me, could have put speech into all these rare treasures, could have hung a lovely legend or charm over each of those antiquated chairs and tables. Her stories would have been founded on fact, but I, too, helped perhaps by my magical ruby ring, could weave romances as I walked along. The rooms of the house had one peculiarity, which I had not noticed the last time I walked over it. Set into a panel of the door of each was a kind of sliding slab, which could be pushed aside with the finger, and which, when opened, revealed a name. I found that each room in the house had its own special name. This discovery excited me very much. It was not discernible to the ordinary visitor, for the little white slab was well hidden in the heavy oak door. But a touch, the twist of a button would reveal it. I wondered when Cousin Geoffrey had perpetrated this strange freak. I imagined the queer pleasure he took in naming the different apartments of his lonely mansion. After I had made this little discovery I ceased to take such a deep interest in the furniture. My desire was, if possible, to read the title of each chamber. I thought what a delightful story I would have to tell my mother by and by. I knew that she was unacquainted with this vagary of her kinsman's. I began at the attics, and turning slab after slab concealed so cleverly in the doors, read the names rapidly off. Some were commonplace, some fantastic; most of the rooms were called after the colour of the decoration, or the style of the furniture. Thus there was the Oak room, the Walnut room, the Blue room, the Gray room, the Rose room; there were also the North room and the South room. At last I reached the beautiful octagon room which contained the painted windows, and which had so excited my mother's emotions. The title of this room gave me a good deal to ponder over. It was called the Chamber of Myths. I stayed for a long time here. I examined all the furniture. I studied the subjects of the painted windows. I stood on the raised dais, and leant against the old four-poster, and pressed my hand against the moth-eaten counterpane. How dusty, and dreary, and haunty it looked!