This again
was entered from the same passage by a second door, the
upper part of which was of common glass, enabling any
one on the outside to trace with facility every object
within when the place was lighted up.
A glance was sufficient to satisfy the youth his father
was not in the room; although there was strong evidence
he had not retired for the night. In the middle of the
floor stood an oaken table, and on this lay an open
writing desk, with a candle on each side, the wicks of
which had burnt so long as to throw a partial gloom over
the surrounding wainscotting. Scattered about the table
and desk were a number of letters that had apparently
been just looked at or read; and in the midst of these
an open case of red morocco, containing a miniature.
The appearance of these letters, thus left scattered
about by one who was scrupulously exact in the arrangement
of his papers, added to the circumstance of the neglected
and burning candles, confirmed the young officer in an
impression that his father, overcome by fatigue, had
retired into his bed-room, and fallen unconsciously
asleep. Imagining, therefore, he could not, without
difficulty, succeed in making himself heard, and deeming
the urgency of the case required it, he determined to
wave the usual ceremony of knocking, and penetrate to
his father's bedroom unannounced.
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