outer newel-post and lifted it
from its socket. Then he took something from his coat pocket, dropped it
into the hollow of the newel, replaced the knob and turned and marched
smartly out of the house, shutting the door behind him.

Eleanor noticed that he didn't lock it.

At the same time three separate considerations moved her to fly back to
her room. She had seen something not intended for her sight; the
knowledge might somehow prove valuable to her; and if she were
discovered in the corridor, the man might reasonably accuse her of
spying. Incontinently she picked up her skirts and ran.

The distance wasn't as great as she had thought; in a brief moment she
was standing before the door of the bedroom as though she had just come
out--her gaze directed expectantly toward the small staircase.

If she had anticipated a visit from her kidnapper, however, she was
pleasantly disappointed. Not a sound came from below, aside from a dull
and distant thump and thud which went on steadily, if in syncopated
measure, and the source of which perplexed her.

At length she pulled herself together and warily descended the
staircase. It ended in what was largely a counterpart of the hall above:
as on the upper floor broken by the mouth of a long corridor, but with a
door at its rear in place of the window upstairs. From beyond the door
came the thumping, thudding sound that had puzzled Eleanor; but now she
could distinguish something more: a woman's voice crooning an age-old
melody. Then the pounding ceased, shuffling footsteps were audible, and
a soft clash of metal upon metal: shuffle again, and again the
intermittent, deadened pounding.

Suddenly she understood, and understanding almost smiled, in spite of
her gnawing anxiety, to think that she had been mystified so long by a
noise of such humble origin: merely that of a woman comfortably engaged
in the household task of ironing. It was simple enough, once one thought
of it; yet ridiculously incongruous when injected into the cognisance of
a girl whose brain was buzzing with the incredible romance of her
position....

Without further ceremony she thrust open the door at the end of the
hallway.

There was disclosed a room of good size, evidently at one time a
living-room, now converted to the combined offices of kitchen and
dining-room. A large deal table in the middle of the floor was covered
with a turkey-red cloth, with places set for four. On a small range in
the recess