possible
way of escaping. Yet as she left the door and took a cautious step
towards the centre of the room, perspiration broke out all over her
body and ran in streams down her back, her limbs, her face. She felt
her knees give under her. Whether all this was due to pure weakness or
in part to fright she could not tell, but it occurred to her as
possible that she had been here several days without food and
repeatedly drugged. How she came to be conscious now caused her a
fleeting wonder.

If only there were a telephone in the room--but the one instrument was
on the ground-floor. There seemed no possible means of communication
with the outside world. She could scream, of course, but that would
only serve to alarm anyone who happened to be in the house, or even if
the house was empty she could scarcely hope that her voice would be
heard far below in the street. The one chance that suggested itself to
her was the skylight. It seemed just faintly possible that she might
be able to get through it and somehow down to the ground. It presented
decided elements of danger, undoubtedly, but there was no choice. She
knew too well what it would mean if she stayed here. No, it was the
skylight or nothing; she must think how the attempt could be managed.

Clutching on to the back of a chair for support, she eyed the sloping
glass above her and made certain rough calculations. If she mounted
upon a chair placed on the table she might fairly easily unfasten the
big central group of panes, which was the part that opened outward.
She even thought she could contrive to climb up to the opening and get
outside, but after that came the rub. She would have to slide off the
side of the roof and drop to the ground, and common sense told here
there was not a chance of her reaching the ground without a broken leg
or arm, even if she was not killed outright. The distance was too
great; there was nothing to break her fall. There was no use whatever
in getting outside the house if she was going to be too disabled to go
farther. She must try to find something she could turn into a sort of
rope to cling to. Her eyes sought rapidly about and fell upon the long
red curtains. The stuff seemed thick and strong; she could perhaps
tear them up into strips, knot the lengths together and so make
something that would serve for part of the distance, at any rate. If
it didn't reach to the ground, she must chance it. She would have to
be quic