13274    I glanced my eyes over it, and then settled down to my task of copying.

13275    'It was a long document, written in the French language, and containing twenty-six separate articles.

13276    I copied as quickly as I could, but at nine o'clock I had only done nine articles, and it seemed hopeless for me to attempt to catch my train.

13277    I was feeling drowsy and stupid, partly from my dinner and also from the effects of a long day's work.

13278    A cup of coffee would clear my brain.

13279    A commissionaire remains all night in a little lodge at the foot of the stairs, and is in the habit of making coffee at his spirit-lamp for any of the officials who may be working overtime.

13280    I rang the bell, therefore, to summon him.

13281    'To my surprise, it was a woman who answered the summons, a large, coarse-faced, elderly woman, in an apron.

13282    She explained that she was the commissionaire's wife, who did the charing, and I gave her the order for the coffee.

13283    'I wrote two more articles, and then, feeling more drowsy than ever, I rose and walked up and down the room to stretch my legs.

13284    My coffee had not yet come, and I wondered what the cause of the delay could be.

13285    Opening the door, I started down the corridor to find out.

13286    There was a straight passage dimly lit which led from the room in which I had been working, and was the only exit from it.

13287    It ended in a curving staircase, with the commissionaire's lodge in the passage at the bottom.

13288    Half-way down this staircase is a small landing, with another passage running into it at right angles.