urn-out coming towards
him, and it flashed across his mind that this might be the equipage in
which the Doctor had been said to drive in the Park. Not wishing to be
seen, he entered the grounds, ran quickly to the house, and admitted
himself through a broken-down doorway that led to what had been the
kitchen. He had scarcely concealed himself when the carriage stopped,
a woman alighted, and walking up to the house, entered by the same
door through which the Doctor had passed. Barnes was satisfied now
that this meeting was pre-arranged, and that it would interest him
greatly to overhear the conversation which would occur.

Seeking a means of reaching the upper floor, he soon found a stairway
from which several steps were absent, but he readily ascended. At the
top, he stopped to listen, and soon heard low voices still farther up.
The staircase in the main hall was in a fair state of preservation,
and there was even the remains of an old carpet. Carefully stepping,
so as to avoid creaking boards, he soon reached a level from which he
could peep into the room at the head of the stairs, and there he saw
the two whom he was following. But though he could hear their voices,
he could not distinguish their words. To do so he concluded that he
must get into the adjoining room, but he could not go farther upstairs
without being detected, as the door was open affording the Doctor a
clear view of the top of the stairway.

Barnes formed his plan quickly. Reaching up with his hands, he took
hold of the balustrade which ran along the hallway, and then, dangling
in the air, he worked his way slowly from baluster to baluster, until
he had passed the open doorway, and finally hung opposite the room
which he wished to enter. Then he drew himself up, until he could rest
a foot upon the floor of the hall, after which he quickly and
noiselessly swung himself over and passed into the front room. That he
succeeded, astonished him, after it had been done, for he could not
but recognize that a single rotten baluster would either have
precipitated him to the floor below, or at least by the noise of its
breaking have attracted the attention of Dr. Medjora, who, be it
remembered, was suspected of no less a crime than murder.

Looking about the room in which he then stood, he took little note of
the decaying furniture, but went at once to a door which he thought
must communicate with the adjoining room. Opening this very gently, he
disclosed a na