rs still
burned, and blew them out, leaving the room in complete darkness. Then he
went back to his bed, and sat and listened.

Up to this point he had been aware that probably at least one pair of
eyes had been watching him; for, although the windows were of bottle-end
glass, yet it was exceedingly likely that there would be some clear glass
in them; and, with the tapers burning inside, his movements would all
have been visible to either of Lackington's men who cared to put his eye
to the window. But now he was invisible. Yet, as he thought of it, he
slipped on his doublet again to hide the possible glimmer of his white
shirt. There was the silence of the summer night about him--the silence
only emphasised by its faint sounds. The house was quiet across the
garden, though once or twice he thought he heard a horse stamp. Once
there came a little stifled cough from outside his window; there was the
silky rustle of the faint breeze in the trees outside; and now and again
came the snoring of a young owl in the ivy somewhere overhead.

He counted five hundred deliberately, to compel himself to wait; and
meanwhile his sub-conscious self laboured at the scheme. Then he glanced
this way and that with wide eyes; his ears sang with intentness of
listening. Then, very softly he shifted his position, and found with his
fingers the ring that lifted the trap-door above the stairs.

There was no concealment about this, and without any difficulty he lifted
the door with his right hand and leaned it against the wall; then he
looked round again and listened. From below came up the damp earthy
breath of the basement, and he heard a rat scamper suddenly to shelter.
Then he lifted his feet from the rugs and dropped them noiselessly on the
stairs, and supporting himself by his hands on the floor went down a step
or two. Then a stair creaked under his weight; and he stopped in an
agony, hearing only the mad throbbing in his own ears. But all was silent
outside. And so step by step he descended into the cool darkness. He
hesitated as to whether he should close the trap-door or not, there was a
risk either way; but he decided to do so, as he would be obliged to make
some noise in opening the secret doors and communicating with Anthony. At
last his feet touched the earth floor, and he turned as he sat and
counted the steps--the fourth, the fifth, and tapped upon it. There was
no answer; he put his lips to it and whispered sharply:

"Anthony,