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along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang
heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced
to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper,
and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished,
flamed and flared.
The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing
the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room lit
by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing
through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to enter. It was a
welcome sight; for here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with
another log fire,--also added to but lately, for the top logs were
fresh--which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. The Count himself
left my luggage inside and withdrew, saying, before he closed the
door:--
"You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your
toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come
into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared."
The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have
dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normal state,
I discovered that I was half famished with hunger; so making a hasty
toilet, I went into the other room.
I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of the
great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave of
his hand to the table, and said:--
"I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse
me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup."
I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to me.
He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a charming smile, he handed
it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of
pleasure.
"I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant
sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to
come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in
whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy
and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is
discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall
be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take
your instructions in all matters."
The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I
fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese
and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was
my supper. During the time I was eating it the Count asked me many
questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had
experienced.
By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had drawn
up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me,
at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I had now an
opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked
physiognomy.
His face was a strong--a very strong--aquiline, with high bridge of the
thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and
hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His
eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy
hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I
could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather
cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over
the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a
man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops
extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm
though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.
Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees
in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but seeing
them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather
coarse--broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in
the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp
point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not
repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a
horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could
not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back; and with a
grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his
protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the
fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towards the
window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a
strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard as if from
down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's eyes
gleamed, and he said:--
"Listen to them--the children of the night. What music they make!"
Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he
added:--
"Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the
hunter." Then he rose and said:--
"But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and to-morrow you
shall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon;
so sleep well and dream well!" With a courteous bow, he opened for me
himself the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom....