That she arose thereupon, muffled herself up in a wrapper, put on her shoes, and went out on the
staircase, much surprised, to look for Jeremiah.
Sparsit, in her chamber window, resting from her packing operations, looked towards her great
staircase and saw Louisa still descending.
Several other figures were now seen at the turn of the
staircase. The one in advance had a thoughtful, anxious, and somewhat crafty expression of face, and in spite of his loftiness of manner, which was evidently the result both of an ambitious spirit and of long continuance in high stations, he seemed not incapable of cringing to a greater than himself.
In the midst of the gloom of the spiral
staircase, he elbowed something which drew aside with a growl; he took it for granted that it was Quasimodo, and it struck him as so droll that he descended the remainder of the
staircase holding his sides with laughter.
He paused on the
staircase, snatching the bunch of keys from Baisemeaux, who thought this new madman was going to dash out his brains with one of them.
In the gloomy tile- paved entry to the gloomy tile-paved
staircase, Monsieur Defarge bent down on one knee to the child of his old master, and put her hand to his lips.
At the bottom of that
staircase lies, probably, the cardinal's treasury of which folk tell such wonders, and we should only have to descend, empty a chest, shut the cardinal up in it, double lock it, go away, carrying off as much gold as we could, put back this orange-tree over the place, and no one in the world would ever ask us where our fortune came from -- not even the cardinal."
Miss Tilney drew back directly, and the heavy doors were closed upon the mortified Catherine, who, having seen, in a momentary glance beyond them, a narrower passage, more numerous openings, and symptoms of a winding
staircase, believed herself at last within the reach of something worth her notice; and felt, as she unwillingly paced back the gallery, that she would rather be allowed to examine that end of the house than see all the finery of all the rest.
When Anna was passing the top of the
staircase, a servant was running up to announce the visitor, while the visitor himself was standing under a lamp.
We entered it, and found the trap-door which led to the
staircase, but we had great difficulty in raising it, because the prince had fastened it down underneath with the plaster he had brought with him.
Sorelli herself, on the day after the adventure of the fireman, placed a horseshoe on the table in front of the stage-door-keeper's box, which every one who entered the Opera otherwise than as a spectator must touch before setting foot on the first tread of the
staircase. This horse-shoe was not invented by me--any more than any other part of this story, alas!--and may still be seen on the table in the passage outside the stage-door-keeper's box, when you enter the Opera through the court known as the Cour de l'Administration.
The latter replied by springing up the dark
staircase after her.
From the landing where Pierre stood there was a second
staircase leading to the back entrance.
Monte Cristo noticed, as they descended the
staircase, that Bertuccio signed himself in the Corsican manner; that is, had formed the sign of the cross in the air with his thumb, and as he seated himself in the carriage, muttered a short prayer.
Speaking of oak
staircases reminds me that there is a magnificent carved oak
staircase in one of the houses in Kingston.
