"You will think I am a wicked old spider sitting here in the dark to catch unwary flies, if I let you go so. You shall come upstairs to see that the sun shines here too, and that I am not altogether unlike my fellow-men, though I am quite alone. Come upstairs, my child." Frederica gave one glance upward, and another into the sunny street. She would much rather have gone away, but Mr St. Cyr was half-way up by this time, and so she could only follow. The stairs were as dim as the hall, and she saw nothing distinctly till she found herself in a large but not very lofty room. Mr St. Cyr drew aside the heavy curtains, and let in the sunshine. "And now you shall sit here till I see what my Babette can find for your refreshment;" said he. There were a great many beautiful things in the room. Though the furniture _was_ dark and old-fashioned, it was very rich and handsome of its kind. The curtains were of the richest damask, of a shade between crimson and brown, and the carpet was of the same colours, and so thick and soft that never a foot-fall could be heard in the room. There were vases and other ornaments on the mantel-piece, and a quaintly carved cabinet opposite, whose open doors showed many strange and beautiful things. There were pictures on the walls which made Frederica think of the great churches in which she had sometimes been. It was not a pleasant room, notwithstanding all these beautiful things; but quite as gloomy, though in a different way, as the office downstairs. She did not move about to examine any of them, but sat looking at a lovely picture of a woman with a child in her arms, over which the morning sunshine fell. By-and-by Mr St. Cyr came in, followed by a little old woman in an odd dress, who carried a silver tray in her hand. On the tray was a china plate, with a bunch of grapes, which she set down on a little table at her master's bidding, and then left the room. "And so you do not think it well to be alone, my little cousin," said Mr St. Cyr, when he had given the grapes into Frederica's hand. "Will you not come and stay with me then?" Frederica did not answer for a moment. "You have learned enough of things you know," said he, with his odd smile. "If we can persuade Mr Vane to let you leave school, will you come and stay here with me?" Frederica shook her head. "I could not leave mama. She needs me." "But she has your sisters, and I am quite alone. Your mother used to come here when she was a child." "Did she? Yes, she told us so. That must have been a long time ago." "A long time ago! And so you will not come?" "Papa says he will send me home to England to school for a year or two, after I am done with Mrs Glencairn." "And would you like that?" "No, not at all. Mama would miss me so much, and Selina. But I don't intend to make myself unhappy about it. Very likely papa may forget all about it again."