y seemed intent on battering down. The gleam of a candle burning
in this closed-up house, or even the tale told by the rising smoke, may
have drawn them from the road to investigate. Such coincidences had
been. Such untoward happenings had misled people into useless
self-betrayal. My case was too desperate for such weakness. Flight at
this moment might save all; I would at least attempt it. The door was
shaking on its hinges; these intruders seemed determined to enter.

With a spring I reached the window by which I hoped to escape, and
quickly raised it. A torrent of snow swept in, covering my face and
breast in a moment. It did something more: it cleared my brain, and I
remembered my poor horse standing in this blinding gale under cover of
the snow-packed pines. Every one knew my horse. I could commit no greater
folly than to flee by the rear fields while such a witness to my presence
remained in full view in front. With the sensation of a trapped animal, I
reclosed the window and cast about for a safe corner where I could lie
concealed until I learned what had brought these men here and how much I
really had to fear from their presence.

I had but little time in which to choose. The door below had just given
way and a party of at least three men were already stamping their feet
free from snow in the hall. I did not like the tone of their voices, it
was too low and steady to suit me. I had rather have heard drunken cries
or a burst of wild hilarity than these stern and purposeful whispers. Men
of resolution could have but one errand here. My doom was closing round
me. I could only put off the fatal moment. But it was better to do this
than to plunge headlong into the unknown fate awaiting me.

I knew of a possible place of concealment. It was in the ballroom not far
from where I stood. I remembered the spot well. It was at the top of a
little staircase leading to the musicians' gallery. A balustrade guarded
this gallery, supported by a boarding wide enough to hide a man lying
behind it at his full length. If the search I was endeavouring to evade
was not minute enough to lead them to look behind this boarding, it would
offer me the double advantage of concealment and an unobstructed view of
what went on in the hall, through the main doorway opening directly
opposite. I could reach this ballroom and its terminal gallery without
going around to this door. A smaller one communicated directly with the
corridor in which I