Had not the idea been preposterous, I should have said that the weight of the cabinet had been too much for it, causing it to sag quite perceptibly at the base-board.

But this seemed too improbable to consider.

Old as the house was, it was not old enough for its beams to have rolled.

Yet the floor was certainly uneven, and, what was stranger yet, had, in sagging, failed to carry the base-board with it.
This I could see by peering around the side of the cabinet.

Was it an important enough fact to call for explanation?
Possibly not; yet when I had taken a short leap up and come down on what was certainly an unstable floor, I decided that I should never be satisfied till I had seen that cabinet removed and the floor under it rigidly examined.
Yet when I came to take a look at this projection from the library window and saw that this floor, like that of the many entrances, was only the height of one step from the ground, I felt the folly into which my inquiring spirit had led me, and would have dismissed the whole subject from my mind if my eyes had not detected at that moment on one of the tables an unusually thin paper-knife.