taper

A small taper on the edge of the table shed a feeble light which sufficed to show me that he was fully dressed.

From this he took a paper, and returning to his seat he flattened it out beside the taper on the edge of the table, and began to study it with minute attention.

The taper was still on the table, and by its light I glanced to see what the paper was which Brunton had taken from the bureau.

I grasped it in my hand, put out the flame as quickly as I could, lighted my taper in the fire itself, and opened the crumpled paper with inexpressible emotion, recognizing, when I had done so, that these characters had been traced in mysterious and sympathetic ink, only appearing when exposed to the fire; nearly one-third of the paper had been consumed by the flame.