come into it, and how easily any one could have
walked in, had he or she been so inclined.

Then in on his thoughts broke those sounds. A dreadful certainty of harm
to come came to him, but he had plenty of pluck, and the memory of his
promise to his father was strong in his mind. He got out of bed softly
and opened his door; then he crept to his mother's door and listened; no
sound came from there, and he hoped she was fast asleep, and Michael, too,
whose cot had been moved in there for the time. Paul felt sincerely
thankful. But though it was plain that the sounds had not come from
there, he was certain they came from somewhere within the house.
He crept softly along the passage and stood at the head of the stairs
listening. At first all was quiet, but just as he was thinking of
creeping back to his bed again, telling himself he had made a mistake,
there came from below a faint sound of scraping, and of stealthy
movements. At the sounds, so unmistakably those of a person bent on
concealment, his heart thumped madly, a cold sweat broke out on his brow;
his heart indeed thumped so loudly he was afraid it would be heard by the
person below, but he went bravely down a few steps further and listened
again. Yes, there was no doubt there was someone down there.

What could he, a small boy, do against a desperate man? Farmer Minards
slept on the other side of the house, and his room could only be reached
by a flight of stairs running up from the kitchen. To get at him Paul
must go right down, and through the house, close to, if not actually
passing by the burglar, or whoever it might be who was acting so
stealthily. But Farmer Minards must be roused somehow. This was the one
thing Paul was certain of. Without making a sound he crept down another
stair or two. Whoever it was down below, he had a light, for Paul could
see a faint glimmer, and it came, he imagined, from the little room the
farmer called his 'office.'

Scarcely knowing to what his thoughts led, Paul thought he might possibly
creep down and pass the office unnoticed, then fly softly through the
kitchen and up to the farmer's room. All chance of success would depend,
though, on the man not being near the office door, or facing that way.
But before his thoughts were really formed Paul had put them into action.
He was too much alarmed and too full of the responsibility of his position
to dawdle. Suppose any harm should come to his mother or the child