" Then the window was shut, and a very pretty,
proud-appearing young lady came down with keys in her hand. She opened the
gate to let me in, and Uncle Pumblechook was about to follow, when the
young lady remarked that Miss Havisham did not wish to see him. She said
it in such an undiscussible way that Uncle Pumblechook dared not protest,
and so I followed my young guide in alone and crossed the court-yard. We
entered the house by a side door--the great front entrance had chains
across it--and we went through many passages, and up a staircase, in the
dark except for a single candle. At last we came to the door of a room,
and she said, "Go in."
I answered, more in shyness than politeness, "After you, miss." But she
answered, "Don't be ridiculous, boy; I am not going in," and scornfully
walked away, and what was worse, took the candle with her.
This was most uncomfortable, and I was half afraid. However, there was
only one thing to be done, so I knocked at the door, and was told from
within to enter. I entered and found myself in a pretty, large room, well
lighted with wax candles. No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it. It
was a dressing-room, as I supposed from the furniture, though much of it
was of forms and uses quite unknown to me then.
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