I was locked in, trapped, and not alone! I confess for an instant I was panic-stricken, shrinking back from the horror of the black unknown which enveloped me.

I could see and hear nothing, yet I seemed to feel a ghastly presence skulking behind that impenetrable veil.

My first inclination was to creep back to the door, and escape into the outer passage.

Yet pride restrained me, pride quickly supplemented by a return of courage.

It was a man surely, a thing of flesh and blood, I was called upon to meet.