was then lurking, and towards this I now made my way
with all the precaution suggested by my desperate situation. No man ever
moved more lightly. The shoes which I had taken off in the lower hall
were yet in my hand. I had caught them up after replacing the cushions on
Adelaide's body. Even to my own straining ears I made no perceptible
sound. I reached the balcony and had stretched myself out at full length
behind the boarding, before the men below had left the lower floor.

An interval of heart-torture and wearing suspense now followed. They were
ransacking the rooms below by the aid of their own lanterns, as I could
tell from their assured manner. That they had not made at once for the
scene of crime brought me some small sense of comfort, but not much. They
were too resolute in their movements and much too thorough and methodical
in their search, for me to dream of their confining their investigations
to the first floor. Unless I very much mistook their purpose, I should
soon hear them ascending the stairs, after which, instinct, if not the
faint smell of smoke still lingering in the air, would lead them to the
room where my poor Adelaide lay.

And thus it proved. More quickly than I expected, the total darkness in
which I lay, brightened under an advancing lantern, and I heard the steps
of two men coming down the hall. It was a steady if not rapid approach,
and I was quite prepared for their presence when they finally reached the
doorway opposite and stopped to look in at what must have appeared to
them a vast and empty space. They were officials, true enough--one hasty
glance through the balustrade assured me of that. I even knew one of them
by name--he was a sergeant of police and a highly trustworthy man. But
how they had been drawn to this place at a moment so critical, I could
not surmise. Do men of this stamp scent crime as a hound scents out prey?
They had the look of hounds. Even in the momentary glimpse I got of them,
I noted the tense and expectant look with which they endeavoured to
pierce the dim spaces between us. The chase was on. It was something more
than curiosity or a chance exercise of their duty which had brought them
here. Their object was definite, and if the sight of the low gallery in
which I lay, should suggest to them all its possibilities as a
hiding-place, I should know in just one moment more what it is for the
helpless quarry to feel the clutch of the captor.

But the moment passed wi