It was difficult,
at any given time, to say with certainty upon which of its two stories
one happened to be. From each room to every other there were sure to
be found three or four steps either in ascent or descent. Then the
lateral branches were innumerable --inconceivable --and so returning
in upon themselves, that our most exact ideas in regard to the whole
mansion were not very far different from those with which we
pondered upon infinity. During the five years of my residence here,
I was never able to ascertain with precision, in what remote
locality lay the little sleeping apartment assigned to myself and some
eighteen or twenty other scholars.
The school-room was the largest in the house --I could not help
thinking, in the world. It was very long, narrow, and dismally low,
with pointed Gothic windows and a celling of oak. In a remote and
terror-inspiring angle was a square enclosure of eight or ten feet,
comprising the sanctum, "during hours," of our principal, the Reverend
Dr. Bransby. It was a solid structure, with massy door, sooner than
open which in the absence of the "Dominic," we would all have
willingly perished by the peine forte et dure.
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