I climbed down again.
It was close.

A faint smell from the kitchen lingered even here.

I paused in the infinite vastness of my empty room.
I opened my door a little bit, then all the way.

In the hall the door of each room was painted brown, with numbers carved on brass plates.
All were closed.

I took a few steps, which I alone heard--heard echoing too loudly in that house, huge and immobile.
The passage was very long and narrow.