n the floor covering.

That done Janet returned to the desk, picked up a handful of blank copy
paper, folded it quickly, and stuffed it into a large envelope. Taking
up a pen she scrawled these words on the envelope: "Jim Hill--Here is
the manuscript you wanted. Hope it is something that will fit into your
program. Janet Hardy."

Janet didn't even stop to blot the wet ink, dropping the envelope into
the drawer, and closing and locking the receptacle.

She felt better after that. At least she felt she had done her best to
save the manuscript. Now the problem was to get up enough courage to
attempt the walk down the long, darkened corridor.

Janet slipped the key to the drawer of Jim's desk into her left shoe,
mechanically patted her hair, and decided that she might just as well be
on her way.

It took nerve to open that door, and to step out into the hall from
which someone had been staring at her only several minutes before. But
somehow Janet managed it.

Chapter Twenty-six

IN THE HALL

From a distance came the soft strains of an orchestra playing in one of
the more distant studios on the same floor, but there was no movement in
the corridor.

Janet paused at the door. Should she snap out the lights? If no one came
along they would burn all night, yet if she turned them off, she would
be in utter darkness.

Then she realized that she was silhouetted in the light. Anyone who
might trouble her would be even more handicapped than she in the
darkness and her fingers pressed the switch.

As the lights went out, Janet stepped quickly away from the door, her
feet treading silently on the heavy carpet which covered the floor of
the hall.

Janet pressed close against the wall, listening for some sound which
would indicate that someone was lurking in the corridor. There was only
the far away music of the orchestra as it played a dreamy waltz. From
outside a clock boomed, but Janet couldn't remember whether it was a
half after midnight or a quarter to one. It didn't matter much, she
decided.

Convinced at last there was no one moving along the corridor, she
started feeling her own way along. The end of the corridor was marked by
a very dim light that failed to penetrate more than a dozen feet in any
direction. It was toward this glow that Janet started.

It was a ghostly and unnerving business, but she couldn't spend the
whole night in Jim's office. It just wasn't possible. She had to get
out.

Fight