complete [kəmˈpli:t], furniture [ˈfə:nɪʧə], feature [ˈfi:ʧə]

The first door he tried proved to be unlocked. He entered warily, sword in hand, and found himself in a long, shadowy hallway dimly illuminated by a light that gleamed through the hangings at the other end. Complete silence hung over the whole house. Murilo glided along the hall and halted to peer through the hangings. He looked into a lighted room, over the windows of which velvet curtains were drawn so closely as to allow no beam to shine through. The room was empty, in so far as human life was concerned, but it had a grisly occupant, nevertheless. In the midst of a wreckage of furniture and torn hangings that told of a fearful struggle, lay the body of a man. The form lay on its belly, but the head was twisted about so that the chin rested behind a shoulder. The features, contorted into an awful grin, seemed to leer at the horrified nobleman.

For the first time that night, Murilo's resolution wavered (впервые за ту ночь решимость Мурило дрогнула; to waver — колыхаться; дрогнуть). He cast an uncertain glance back the way he had come (он бросил неуверенный взгляд назад, на путь, которым пришел; to cast — бросать; uncertain — неопределенный; неуверенный, колеблющийся, нерешительный;to come — приходить). Then the memory of the headsman's block and axe steeled him (потом воспоминание о плахе и топоре палача придали ему сил; block — колода; плаха), and he crossed the room, swerving to avoid the grinning horror sprawled in its midst (и он пересек комнату, отклонившись от прямого пути, чтобы избежать скалящегося кошмара, растянувшегося посреди нее; to swerve — отклоняться от прямого пути). Though he had never seen the man before (хотя он никогда не видел этого человека прежде), he knew from former descriptions that it was Joka, Nabonidus' saturnine servant (он понял = догадался по прежним описаниям, что это был Джока, угрюмый прислужник Набонидуса; to know — знать; понимать).