"
He looked about the room. Behind the glazed doors of the mahogany
bookcase appeared Hume and Smollett, Scott and Shakespeare; and
conspicuous among these a handsome family Bible. But the glazed doors
were locked. In Mr. Sheldon's study there appeared to be no other books
than these few standard works. Yes, on some obscure little shelves, low
down in one of the recesses formed by the projection of the fireplace and
the chimney, there were three rows of large quarto volumes, in dingy
dark-green cloth cases.
What these volumes might contain Valentine Hawkehurst knew not; and the
very fact of his ignorance rendered these books all the more suitable for
the purpose of augury. To dip for a sentence into any of these unknown
volumes would be a leap in darkness more profound than he could find in
the Bible or the "AEneid," where his own foreknowledge of the text might
unwittingly influence the oracle. He went over to the recess, bent down,
and ran his hand along the backs of the volumes, with his face turned
away from the books towards the window.
"The first obstruction that arrests my hand shall determine my choice of
the volume," he said to himself.
His hand ran easily along the volumes on the upper shelf--easily along
the volumes on the second shelf; and he began to doubt whether this mode
of determining his choice could be persisted in. But in its progress
along the third and lowest range of volumes, his hand was arrested midway
by a book which projected about half an inch beyond its fellows.
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