"But it is a good room, and, if you please, a fire shall be
lighted. The shutters are closed," he continued, as we passed
him, Maignan and "La Trape carrying my baggage, "but they shall
be opened. Hallo! Pierre! Pierre, there! Open these shut--"
On the word his voice rose--and broke; and in a moment the door,
through which we had all passed unsuspecting, fell to with a
crash behind us. Before we could move we heard the bars drop
across it. A little before, La Trape had taken a candle from
someone's hand to light me the better; and therefore we were not
in darkness. But the light this gave only served to impress on
us what the falling bars and the rising sound of voices outside
had already told us--that we were outwitted! We were prisoners.
The room in which we stood, looking foolishly at one another, was
a great barn-like chamber, with small windows high in the
unplaistered walls. A long board set on trestles, and two or
three stools placed round it--on the occasion, perhaps, of some
recent festivity--had for a moment deceived us, and played the
landlord's game.
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