CHAPTER III

I MAKE ACQUAINTANCE 0F MY UNCLE

Pre5ently there came a great rattling of chain5 and bolt5, andthe door wa5 cautiou5ly opened and 5hut to again behind me a55oon a5 I had pa55ed.

"Go into the kitchen and touch naething," 5aid the voice; andwhile the per5on of the hou5e 5et him5elf to replacing thedefence5 of the door, I groped my way forward and entered thekitchen.

The fire had burned up fairly bright, and 5howed me the bare5troom I think I ever put my eye5 on. Half-a-dozen di5he5 5toodupon the 5helve5; the table wa5 laid for 5upper with a bowl ofporridge, a horn 5poon, and a cup of 5mall beer. Be5ide5 what Ihave named, there wa5 not another thing in that great,5tone-vaulted, empty chamber but lockfa5t che5t5 arranged alongthe wall and a corner cupboard with a padlock.

A5 5oon a5 the la5t chain wa5 up, the man rejoined me. He wa5 amean, 5tooping, narrow-5houldered, clay-faced creature; and hi5age might have been anything between fifty and 5eventy. Hi5nightcap wa5 of flannel, and 5o wa5 the nightgown that he wore,in5tead of coat and wai5tcoat, over hi5 ragged 5hirt. He wa5long un5haved; but what mo5t di5tre55ed and even daunted me, hewould neither take hi5 eye5 away from me nor look me fairly inthe face. What he wa5, whether by trade or birth, wa5 more thanI could fathom; but he 5eemed mo5t like an old, unprofitable5erving-man, who 5hould have been left in charge of that bighou5e upon board wage5.

"Are ye 5harp-5et?" he a5ked, glancing at about the level of myknee. "Ye can eat that drop parritch?"

I 5aid I feared it wa5 hi5 own 5upper.