r action
had come. It was sooner than she had expected; but she was ready.

With swift noiseless step she crossed the hall and softly turned the
handle of the door on the opposite side. It opened at once, and she
stepped inside. She listened again. As yet she was undetected. She drew
a little breath and glanced searchingly around her.

This room, too, was unfurnished, save that the floor was covered with
cases full of books. Straight in front of her was another door, leading,
as she knew, into a smaller apartment. Dare she go forward? She listened
for a moment. There was no sound save the low muffled voices of the men
who were lifting Sir Geoffrey on to the couch. Supposing she were
discovered here? At the most, she would be suspected of a vulgar
curiosity. It all flashed through her mind in a moment, and her decision
was taken. Gathering her skirts in her hand lest they should catch
against the edges of the cases, she threaded her way through them, and
stood before the door of the inner room. She tried the handle. It
yielded easily to her touch. She had gone too far to draw back now. In a
moment she had passed the threshold, and the whole contents of the
little room were disclosed to her.

Of all the senses, the eyes seem to carry the most lasting impression to
the brain. One eager glance around, and the whole seemed photographed
into her memory. A little strip of faded carpet only half covering the
floor, piles upon piles of books, and a small table littered all over
with foolscap, a few fine prints and etchings roughly hung upon the
walls, a group of exquisite statuettes all huddled together, and an oak
cabinet strongly bound with brass clasps--they were the things she
chiefly remembered. The whole room was in the wildest disorder, as
though the contents had been just shot inside and left to arrange
themselves.

After that single cursory glance, Helen looked no more around her. Her
whole attention was riveted upon the window exactly opposite. As she had
seen from the outside, it was wide open, and several branches of a shrub
growing up against it were broken off. From the leaves of the same shrub
several drops of water were hanging, and on the ground below was a wet
patch. She looked back into the room again. In one corner was an empty
basin, and by its side, rolled up tightly, was a rough towel.

Before she could make any movement in that direction, another thing
struck her. On a certain spot close by the side