5

One evening, returning from a walk around Paris, the guys found a terrible sight behind the barracks: Jacques and three other boys tied a dog to a post and threw stones at it, competing in accuracy. The defenseless dog squealed and whined, trying to dodge the stones flying at him. Without hesitation, friends rushed to save the unfortunate animal. Closest to them stood Henri Chrétien, a friend of Jacques. Running up to Henri, Rene rushed at him with his fists. The friends fought so fiercely that their opponents soon fled, despite being outnumbered.

The boys untied the beaten dog, and it immediately hobbled away, limping away.

Tillon, whom Philip had struck hard on the ear, was furiously thinking how to subdue the hated upstart. “They are always together, that's why they are brave,” he thought contemptuously. - Nothing, the day will come when I will catch him. Let's see if he can be as brave on his own."

Philip was inexhaustible in invention.

- Rene, have you heard of the Gloomy House? - he asked somehow.

- No, tell me.

- Outside the city, not far from the Abbey of Saint-Denis, there is an old dilapidated house. It seems to have burned down, or maybe just dilapidated from time to time. A real knight once lived there, can you imagine? Let's see this house!

- Great, come on! Rene exclaimed with delight. Why is he Dark?

- It is built so that the sun never penetrates there.

***

On the day off, taking with them candles, ropes and some little things, the friends went to the abbey. The road started from the gates of Saint-Denis, located near the house of Rene.

The abbey turned out to be quite far away, and they had to walk for several hours along a country road. It was a fine September day, the walk was easy and pleasant. The fields and orchards were gone, and there was now forest on both sides of the road. Paris was left far behind, and the guys kept walking and walking, their camisoles were covered with road dust.

On the way, Philip talked about the abbey.

- You know, Saint Dionysius was the first bishop of Paris. He was executed on the hill of Montmartre. He came here carrying his severed head in his hand. And Saint Genevieve founded an abbey here in his honor.

- Many centuries ago, a simple man lived here, Suger. He was an orphan and brought up in an abbey. And then he became friends with the future king Louis Tolstoy, who was also brought up in Saint-Denis. And when the king went on a crusade, he became regent, although he was a commoner by birth.

- Suger himself rebuilt the central basilica, and came up with a new architectural style for it. Now almost all cathedrals are like this, and the Basilica of Saint-Denis was the first built in this style. Suger called it "the architecture of light."

- Local monks are instructed to write the annals of France. And kings are buried in the crypt.

The sun was already setting, when the powerful walls of the abbey and the towers of the basilica appeared in the distance. Their hearts fluttered in anticipation of an extraordinary adventure.

- Do you know where the Gloomy House stands? Rene asked.

- No. Let's go around the abbey, he must be somewhere nearby, - answered Philip. He involuntarily dropped into a whisper.

The majestic abbey was getting closer and closer. Towers and spiers rose here and there above the mighty walls of dark gray stone. The rays of the setting sun shone on the colorful stained-glass windows of the central basilica. Friends took their breath away from this strict beauty.

When they reached the gate, they turned right, going around the wall in a circle. Cultivated fields and meadows stretched out in front of the entrance to the abbey, but behind it the forest rose close to the wall. Along the wall, a few paces from it, a narrow path wound.

Getting around the wall was no easy task. The abbey was huge and looked more like a small town.

They had already circled half a circle, but they had not yet come across anything resembling a house. All around was only the forest, through which the gloomy wall of the abbey could be seen on the left.

- Are you sure it's not just a legend? Rene hesitated.

“I don’t know anymore,” Philip replied despondently, “we went through almost the entire wall in a circle, and there’s nothing.

After going all over the abbey, they returned to the gate.

- What we are going to do? Philip groaned. - Look, the sun is already setting.

Friends sat by the road.

- Let's think, - said Rene. - After all, the house is not a wagon, it should take up a lot of space, right?

"Yes," Philip nodded.

- So, it cannot be between the path and the wall: it simply will not fit there. It turns out that the house can only be in the forest. It is unlikely that the trees come close to the house , there should be some space around it. So, you need to look for something like a clearing.

Philip got up impatiently.

- Exactly, Rene, well done! Let's go before it gets dark.

- Wait, there is another thought. It is unlikely that there is another path nearby, except for the one we walked on. So, they approached the house from it, so we need to look for some old, abandoned branch from the main path.

And they again moved along the wall, walked slowly, one peered intently into the thicket of the forest, the other carefully looked at his feet, trying to find the path to the house.

They shouted at the same time:

- Look, the field!

- And here is the old trail!

The friends looked at each other happily. Rene was proud that his reasoning was correct. They cautiously moved towards the clearing along an almost imperceptible path, lost from time.

When the trees became thinner, they saw a two-story wooden house blackening in a clearing. In the rays of the setting sun, penetrating through the foliage, he looked huge and scary.

- This is really a gloomy house - Philip whispered.

The building was half destroyed, part of the wall collapsed, the black eye sockets of the empty windows looked at them with an eerie look . Rene gazed at the house in fascination, feeling his heart beating excitedly.

Having recovered a little, they tried to enter through the door. It did not work out: it was skewed so that it was impossible to open it. The boys climbed out the window.

Once inside, they looked around with interest. One wall was almost missing, and the room was fairly light. The room they entered was apparently used as a hallway. Stone floor, along the walls are wooden benches with carved backs and forged chests. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. A ramshackle staircase to the second floor was visible against the far wall.

Friends involuntarily switched to a whisper.

- Wow, look how old everything is.

- I wonder what's in the chests?

- Listen, - suggested Rene, - let's go upstairs and from there we will start to inspect everything. But soon it will get dark, and ghosts may appear.

Philip cringed.

- Then let's go faster.

They went up to the second floor. In the spacious room where the creaky stairs led them, there was twilight. The friends looked around impatiently, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Gradually, the outlines of a large office table and a chair behind it became visible. There was a stove in the corner of the room, carved wooden chairs along the wall, a bench next to it, and a jug on it. On the floor lay an old carpet with holes in it. And, like below, everything was covered with dust.

The boys cautiously took a few steps. The rotten boards creaked and buckled under their weight.

“How terrible it is,” Rene whispered.

“Yeah, it really is a wonderful place for ghosts.

Suddenly Philip sat down and pointed to a hole in the carpet.

- Look!

Rene ran up to him and, through a layer of dust, saw on the floor a barely distinguishable pattern applied with white paint - two oncoming arrows touching with a tip.

- What is this? Some kind of secret sign?

- Exactly! I wonder what it means?

- Maybe some kind of meeting?

They excitedly hovered around the drawing and whispered. Suddenly, a sharp cry of an owl was heard from outside. Friends shuddered in surprise, Rene stumbled and his foot hit the sign. At the same moment, the rotten boards broke with a terrible crack, and he flew down, screaming heart-rendingly.

It seemed to Rene that he lost consciousness for a moment. And when he woke up, it was completely dark around him, only a faint light came from a hole above his head. The air smelled distinctly damp.

- Rene! You are alive? Say something! Philip shouted in panic, his head vaguely visible in a hole far above.

Rene took a breath.

“It seems so,” he answered uncertainly, rubbing his bruised side.

“Hold on, buddy, I’ll go down to you now,” Philip exclaimed with relief, and a second later the creak of the stairs was heard.

Rene turned his head, hoping to see something around him. Oddly, it should have fallen into the room they had climbed into the house through, but it was much lighter.

Philip's footsteps and his confused voice were heard overhead:

- Where are you?

- I am here.

Philip's head appeared in the hole, he whispered excitedly:

- Listen, you broke through the floor of the first floor! Looks like you fell into the basement.

- Break through the stone floor? Rene asked incredulously.

- No, there is something like a wooden hatch covering the hole, so you broke through it with your weight. Hit hard?

- Yeah, not really. Rene suddenly panicked. - Look, is there a ladder there? How can I get out of here?

Diving into the hole to the waist, Philip tried to grope for the stairs.

- Looks like there's nothing. Wait, now I'll throw off the rope for you. But first, look at what is there, horror, how curious.

"I can't see anything, it's dark in here!" - Rene paused and added guiltily: - I won't be able to climb the rope.

"Then I'll come down to you now."