it no more.

He set down the cup, and shook his head, and then, as if nerving himself
for the task, he went to the drawers, took out a key from his pocket,
and then, from the place where it lay, hidden beneath his clean linen,
brought forth the old clothes-line twisted and knotted together--the
line which had done duty in the loft as a swing.

He listened as he crossed to the door, but all was still downstairs, and
it was not likely that any one would come near his room that night; but
still he moved about cautiously, and taking the line with his hands,
about two feet apart, snapped it again and again with all his might, to
try if it was likely to give way now beneath his weight.

It seemed firm as ever, but he could not help a shiver as he laid it by
the window, and thought of a boy being found in the shrubbery beneath,
with a broken leg, or, worse still, neck.

Then as he waited for the time to glide by, so that all might be in bed
before he made his escape, a sudden chill ran through him.

He had remembered everything, as he thought; and yet there was one
thing, perhaps the simplest of all, forgotten. He was going to take no
bundle, no money, nothing which the doctor had in his kindness provided
for him; but he could not go without a cap, and that was hanging in the
hall, close to the drawing-room door.

The question arose whether he should venture down to get it now, or
after the doctor had gone to bed.

It took him some time to make up his mind; but when he had come to a
decision he opened his door softly, listened, and stole out on to the
landing.

All was very still as he looked over the balustrade to where the lamp
shed its yellow rays all round, and to his mind more strangely upon the
object he wanted to obtain than elsewhere.

It was a very simple thing to do, and yet it required a great deal of
nerve, for if the drawing-room door were opened just as he reached the
hat-stand, and the doctor came out, what should he say?

Then there was the risk of being heard, for there were, he knew, two of
the old oaken stairs which always gave a loud crack when any one passed
down, and if they cracked now, some one would be sure to come out to see
what it meant.

Taking a long catching breath he went quickly to the top of the stairs,
and was about to descend in a desperate determination to go through with
his task, when an idea struck him, and bending over the balustrade he
spread his hands, balanced himself c