Signora Psyche Zenobia is out for a stroll in the goodly city of Edina in Scotland. Accompanied by her miniature poodle, Diana, and her elderly slave, Pompey, only three feet in height. She suddenly confronts a gothic cathedral of immense proportions with a steeple "which towered into the sky."

The signora was seized with an uncontrollable desire to enter the cathedral, and to climb to the top of the steeple to look at the city from above. Which the three do. Stair by stair, round and round, up and up.

Humourous, yes, but be prepared for science fiction and horror too. It's Edgar Allan Poe at his best.

Librarian's note: an earlier name for the story was Scythe of Time.

Librarian's note #2: there are two volumes in the Signora Zenobia series, 1. How to Write a Blackwood Article (1838), and 2. A Predicament (1838). Both have their own entries on GR.