rut, so that at any
moment it might be ready to bear them away.

Instantly Lessing darted to the nearer of the two windows, and looking
out experienced an unwelcome surprise. The house was evidently built
on shelving ground, for though the room in which he stood was level
with the entrance, it was yet raised by a good twenty feet from the
ground at the back. Now twenty feet is not a great depth, but it is
too far for a man to drop without risk of at least spraining an ankle,
and thereby leaving himself helpless in the hands of his enemies,
especially when, as was the case in this instance, the ground is paved
with rough, uneven flags. Lessing drew back in disgust, and darted to
the window on the farther end of the room. Here, if anything, the
drop was greater, but the position was improved, inasmuch as a tangle
of grass took the place of the jagged flags. The window was of the
old-fashioned casement description, and to prise open the rusty latch
was no light task even for strong fingers, but it was done at last,
and Lessing hung forward, listening breathlessly to the sounds from
the front of the house. The car was evidently still refusing to
budge; he could hear the voice of the chauffeur instructing the man in
the brown coat as to his share in the work, and the thud of the engine
as once and again it strained to the task.

Now was his time, while the two men were engaged; while as yet the
third man had not appeared! Lessing hung out of the window, his eyes
sweeping the wall to right and left. He had a strong head, and given
so much as a drain pipe would have no hesitation in essaying the
descent, but the mass of ivy hid everything from view. Lessing
hoisted himself on the window-sill, and creeping first to one side and
then the other, groped among the leaves. He found no pipe, but a
moment's searching discovered what was quite as useful for his
purpose, a central branch of the ivy itself, thick as a man's fist,
strong enough to support a dozen climbers. Lessing gave himself no
time to think, but lowered himself from the sill, grasped the branch
in both hands, and began his descent. It was not as easy as he had
expected, for the branch scalloped along the walls, in a somewhat
disconcerting manner, but given a steady head, and a body in
reasonable training, there were no serious difficulties to encounter,
and a point was soon reached wh