I said I had a solemn promise to receive from you; let me receive it now, before I explain the chief circumstance which it concerns; there are others, of which your peace requires that you should rest in ignorance.

Promise, then, that you will perform exactly what I shall enjoin.' Emily, awed by the earnest solemnity of his manner, dried her tears, that had begun again to flow, in spite of her efforts to suppress them; and, looking eloquently at St.Aubert, bound herself to do whatever he should require by a vow, at which she shuddered, yet knew not why.
He proceeded: 'I know you too well, my Emily, to believe, that you would break any promise, much less one thus solemnly given; your assurance gives me peace, and the observance of it is of the utmost importance to your tranquillity.

Hear, then, what I am going to tell you.

The closet, which adjoins my chamber at La Vallee, has a sliding board in the floor.
You will know it by a remarkable knot in the wood, and by its being the next board, except one, to the wainscot, which fronts the door.

At the distance of about a yard from that end, nearer the window, you will perceive a line across it, as if the plank had been joined;--the way to open it is this:--Press your foot upon the line; the end of the board will then sink, and you may slide it with ease beneath the other.