I found the news particularly agreeable. Sir Hugh could now procure the warrant without Angelo's having any idea of what was in store for him, and I should have ample time to study the weird picture and to examine the interior of the Nuns' Tower, two occupations in which I resolved to have no companion. A vague feeling of peril gave a charm to the idea. I did not know what form the peril might take, but determined to be prepared for it in any shape, I took the liberty of borrowing a brace of loaded pistols which Sir Hugh kept in a drawer of his writing-table. "One for the ghost in the gallery," I said cheerfully to myself as I slipped it into my hip pocket, "and one for the artist in the studio," and I slipped the second into the other hip pocket. "And now for the masterpiece." CHAPTER XIV THE MYSTERIES OF THE STUDIO Taking up a lighted candle and the keys both of the tower and of the picture gallery, I directed my steps towards the latter place. It was situated at some distance from the library, and, the house being new to me, I had some difficulty in finding it. In the distance the sound of jovial carols told me that in the servants' quarters due homage was being paid to the spirit of the season. Floating faintly along the corridors came the snatches of a refrain-- "Come, bring with a noise, My merry, merry boys, The Christmas log to the firing; While my old dame she Bids you all be free, And drink to your hearts' desiring." I hummed over a few bars myself as I made my way along. At last, after losing my way several times, I stood in front of the thick oaken door that I knew to be the entrance of the picture-gallery. Half-a-dozen keys inserted into the lock one after another failed to open the door. The seventh caused the steel tongue to spring back with a sharp click. I was on the point of turning the handle when a sound on the other side arrested my act. A moment's reflection induced me to believe that it was merely the night breeze sighing through the elms and yews outside, but in my first start I had likened it to human footsteps stealing softly away from the door. So strongly had I been impressed with this fancy that I had at once turned the key in the lock again, so as to keep two inches of solid oak, at least, between me and the something on the other side.