Inside the bell tower

Before the climb, I folded the survey plan into my pocket with the satisfaction of someone who believed the building had already explained itself. The first flights were broad and regular. Above the clock chamber, however, the staircase narrowed to a twisting iron ladder, and the labels on my plan ended. I paused with one hand on the cold rung, trying to decide whether the dark opening above was the route or merely a recess. The confidence I had carried through the doorway now seemed borrowed from the neatness of the page.

Select one word or phrase that shows the narrator’s confidence before the climb and one word or phrase that shows the narrator’s uncertainty later in the passage.