CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 22

The hallway ended at a short flight on curving steps. He ascended them, surprised at the din of his skin animal boots on the stone. Before him was a short corridor with a single room on each side. He moved forward. That was when he heard something, a faint musical note coming from the end of the corridor. Someone was at a piano, and from the depths of despair his heart leapt with hope.

The same high G was being keyed again and again at three- or four-second intervals, meaningless. He followed the note down the corridor past closed doors bearing empty sconces. This hallway ended up ahead in a room with no barrier to entry. Holding the magic calabash high, he began to make out the shapes of furniture, and then its details. What he entered was a sitting room with two straight-backed chairs and little else. Turning and casting the beam of the lantern to his right, he beheld the origin of the music. Someone looking lik