In reality it was
scarcely five and twenty minutes since he had left the study. He
remembered suddenly that he had some spirits in his room at the
top of the palace. Slowly and painfully he rose to his feet and
went towards the other exit from the library, which, as in many
ancient houses, opened upon the grand staircase, so as to give
free access to visitors from without. He had to cross the broad
marble landing, whence a masked door led to the narrow winding
steps by which he ascended to the upper story. He listened to hear
whether any one was passing, and then went out. Once on his way he
moved more quickly than seemed possible for a man so bent and mis-
shapen.
The bright afternoon sun streamed in through the window of his
little chamber, a relief from the sombre gloominess of the lofty
library, where the straggling rays seemed to make the great hall
more shadowy by contrast. But Meschini did not stop to look about
him. In a closet in the wall he kept his stores, his chemicals,
his carefully-composed inks, his bits of prepared parchment, and,
together with many other articles belonging to his illicit
business, he had a bottle of old brandy, which the butler had once
given him out of the prince's cellar, in return for a bit of legal
advice which had saved the servant a lawyer's fee.
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