I went down the stone stairs to the door where I had first entered the castle. I found I could pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains. But the door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count's room. I must watch in case his door was ever unlocked, so that I could get the key and escape. Next, I carefully checked the various stairs and passages, and tried to open the doors. One or two small rooms near the hall were open. But there was nothing to see in them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it seemed locked, opened a bit when I pushed it.

I pushed harder, and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came from the hinges which had fallen a bit, so that the heavy door rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have again, so I tried even harder and finally forced it back so that I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle further to the right than the rooms I knew. I was also one level lower down.

From the windows I could see that the rooms I was in lay to the south of the castle, and the windows of the end room looked out west and south. On the south side, and also to the west, there was a great precipice. The castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite impossible to attack. These rooms had large windows since neither sling nor bow could reach them. And consequently there was light and comfort which could not be found in a position which had to be guarded.