-The doctor!

As luck would have it, Harry's bed was near the door. If he could but
get out of the dormitory unobserved by the boys, that would be at least
one rung mounted on the ladder of escape. He was fully dressed, his
boots only being unlaced. So taking them off, he crept towards the
door, and waiting cautiously, hidden by the now-welcome darkness, till
a fresh noisy onset was made by his assailants on the bed where they
supposed him to be, he stealthily lifted the latch and stood on the
stairs. He was not long creeping down to the first landing--a narrow
carpeted passage, full of numerous doors, and terminating in a window
which looked over a shed where the boots and knives, etc., were
cleaned. The stairs which led below, joined those of No. 7 dormitory
at one end of the passage, exactly opposite to the window, the distance
from the window to the stairs being about ten yards. When Harry left
his room he had not the least notion how he was going to accomplish his
purpose. He had only a vague idea that he was running away; and it was
not till he alighted at the end of the passage mentioned, and saw from
the other end the moonlight streaming in through the curtainless
window, that it entered his head that there he might find means of
escape.

So he stole cautiously along the passage, nervous, excited, fearing
lest he should disturb any of the sleepers in the various rooms he
passed. The whole place was so still, he could almost hear his heart
thumping. The only thing besides that stirred the silence was the
subdued monotonous snoring from the rooms. A waft of fresh summer
night-air made his heart leap with delight and eagerness. The window
was open. The rest seemed easy.

The last door was passed, and he stood at the ledge looking out into
the moonlight. How quiet everything was! Far off, across the
playground, he saw a few lights burning in the different masters'
houses; but the Doctor's, in a wing of which he was, was quite dark.
Of course, he remembered, the Doctor was out. How fortunate! and the
kitchen-windows looked the other way. The roof of the boot-house was
about six feet below the window-ledge. At the corner stood a
water-butt, and, against that, a large empty box turned up on end.
Everything appeared to be put there to further his escape. The
boot-house stood in a yard, which opened into Dr Palmer's garden, and
from that he knew escape would be easy enough.

He had just tied his