red with embroidery, and if one could catch
hold of a curtain as it blew the stuff wouldn't tear. As for the stolen
envelope, it was safe in one of those odd, new-fashioned pockets of
hers. Hastily she made it more secure with a big pin, by which she
fastened it to the cloth of her dress. Thus both hands were free. But it
took courage to start!

"Oh, I must, I must do it!" she thought, her body ice, her soul aflame.
"It's for Angel! If I don't look down, I shall be all right. And even if
I fall and smash like an egg I'll be no worse off than before she saved
me. I'll be back just where I was that day."

Uninvited, the chambermaid had followed O'Reilly into the next room. She
was talking volubly, hoping that he'd mislaid the door key, that it
hadn't been stolen. Clo, in making her dash for the bedroom, had quietly
closed the door between, but she could hear that the two were talking.

Anyhow, the girl tried to think, it was the first step that cost! Once
outside the bedroom window, plastered against the wall, the danger of
being caught was over. O'Reilly would search the clothes-closet, and
peer into the bath. Then he would suppose that the bird was already
flown. Never would he dream that a girl would dare what she meant to
dare.

Oddly enough, that reflection decided Clo to act. For the moment, fear
left her free. She stepped briskly over the window sill with one foot,
and landed on the ledge. It felt solid, almost comforting; but as she
groped for it with the other foot, horror caught her again, poured
through her veins like iced water and made her heart feel a dead thing.
She tried not to think of anything except that kind curtain flapping in
the wind. She clung to the window-frame with fingers so damp that they
slipped on the stone. Holding on for dear life--yes, life was dear, now
it hung by a thread!--she edged along, her cheek scraping the wall as
she moved. One step, two, three--another would take her so far that she
must let go of the window frame. Could she reach the blowing curtain? A
few moments ago it had seemed to beckon. Now she depended on it the
white folds eluded her hand. If the wind dropped, she was lost. She
couldn't help thinking of all the things she wished not to think of. She
thought of that immense depth below her narrow perch. She didn't believe
the man or woman lived strong-minded enough to forget it!

As she reached out with her free arm for the curtain, a light sprang up
from the room