“But it so happened that one day during the first week of my stay, and some few days before Christmas, I met with a slight accident while on the ice, and a sprained ankle prevented me from further indulging in outside sports for the remainder of my stay. Nevertheless, I insisted that my inability to join them should in no way deter my companions from following their own sweet will. Thus it happened that one evening I was the sole occupant of the great hall, which was, in point of fact, the largest room in the whole house, and a most imposing apartment it was. The lofty ceiling was supported by massive beams of oak finely carved, and blackened by the smoke of centuries, while hanging round its walls were some of the most beautiful tapestries I have ever seen. At intervals were placed suits of armor, shields, swords, spears, and other warlike implements, which shone and glistened in the glow of the immense fire which burned in the open hearth. “For a while I had occupied myself with a book, sitting far back in the chimney corner, in order to avoid, as much as possible, the drafts which seemed to steal upon one from all quarters; but as it grew dusk I threw it aside, and fell into a state of musing, which must have lasted some considerable time, since I found afterward that my pipe, which I had just filled, was empty when I roused myself. The immediate cause of my arousal is the point of my tale, which is most interesting and curious. I was, as I said, sitting far in the chimney recess--where the light of the fire, which made more or less visible the whole of the room, was unable to penetrate--and was speculating on the various objects of interest the place contained, when a door at the farther end of the room was cautiously opened, and a figure arrayed in a garment of white noiselessly entered and glided over the stone floor. It came straight across the apartment, and casting a furtive glance round, took from its place on the wall what in the distance seemed a long dagger, and in another moment it was gone--disappearing, it would seem, behind the tapestry hangings.