ing me as with fire. It must
have been eleven o'clock when at last I put out my light, and listened
in the passage; yet heard nothing, not even the echo of a distant
sound.

Of the doors about, the majority were closed; but the doctor's was
open, and his room was in darkness, so that I began to fear that he was
closeted with Black; and I went very stealthily, having left my boots
behind me, to the man's study, and found that door ajar as it had been
when I had come to it some hours before. This discovery set me almost
drunk with hope. There was no doubt that both the men were away from
their rooms, so that my time could not have been better chosen; and,
more fearless in their absence, I pushed the door wide open and began
to feel my way in the blinding dark.

My first proceeding was to run upon some slight article of furniture,
and to overturn it. The crash that followed echoed through the vaulted
passages, and I stood quite still, thinking that all chance of success
had gone with the mishap. But no sound followed, and after many minutes
I went on again with great care, feeling my way as a cat, quite sure
that at last I should succeed. Twice I went round the room, and could
not put my hand upon the rifles; but at the third attempt I found them,
and gave a sigh of relief. Then an overwhelming terror struck me chill
and powerless. My sigh was echoed from the corner by the window; and a
low chuckle of laughter followed it. I stood as a man petrified, my
hand upon a gun, but my nerves strained to a tension that was horrible
to bear. Who was there with me? By whom was I watched?

Alas! I knew in another moment, when the electric light flooded the
chamber, and I saw Black sitting at his writing-table, observing me, a
jeer upon his lips, and all the terrible malice of his nature written
in his keen and mocking eyes. I stood transfixed by that searching
gaze, held spellbound by the fascination of the obvious danger, my hand
still upon one of the rifles, yet trembling with the agitation of
discovery. Words rose to my lips--excuses, pleadings; but they died
away in my throat, and I could not utter them. Plans for the undoing of
that which had been done, ways of escape, efforts to gain time,
suggested themselves to me, but remained suggestions. I could do
nothing but stand and sway my body as a victim before a python--the
prey before a snake that is about to strike.

We must have watched each other thus for a minute or more. I