“There I found the room considerably altered from my recollection of it, especially as it was arranged as a sitting-out room, but no one was there, nor were there any signs of its having been used, which from its rather secluded position, was natural enough.

“Having given a reminiscent look round I concluded that it would be best to make a retreat, especially as there would be ample opportunity later in the evening for me to visit it again.  I turned and went to the door.  On reaching the stairs I heard to my great annoyance the sounds of persons coming up and the subdued tones of a man’s voice, I realized that I was caught, and my one chance of escape was to retreat up the topmost flight of stairs and wait in the darkness till the couple had gone into the room I had just quitted.

“Accordingly I turned and went up the remaining flight on tip-toe, two stairs at a time, waiting beyond the turn in hiding till the coast should be clear.

“The couple had now reached the landing below and, so far as I could tell, went into the room.  I was just about to make a quick descent, hoping to get past that and other awkward points unnoticed, when to my dismay I became aware that the people whom I had thought safely settled in the room below had come out and were beginning to mount the topmost flight of stairs.  This was indeed a most awkward predicament for me, and I debated for a moment whether my best course would not be to go boldly down the stairs and pass them, rather than retreat to the top room.  If I had chosen the former course how differently things might have turned out; at any rate, for better or worse, the situation as it exists to-day might have presented itself in quite another form.”

Edith Morriston glanced quickly at Gifford as he uttered the reflection.  She seemed about to speak, but checked the impulse, and he continued: 

“Treading noiselessly, I bolted up the remaining stairs and went into the dark room at the top.  At the door, which stood open, I stopped and listened.  To my intense vexation, for the situation was becoming decidedly unpleasant, the pair were still coming up.  In silence now, but I could hear their approaching footsteps and the rustle of the lady’s dress.  Unfortunately, there was no corner on the top landing where I could stand hidden, so I was forced to draw back into the room.

“Happily it had been so familiar to me from childhood that I could find my way about it in the dark.  I well remembered the little inner room formed by the bartizan of the tower, and into this I tip-toed, feeling horribly guilty.  If only I had not been in that suspicious brown suit!  In evening clothes there would, of course, have been no necessity for this surreptitious retreat.  I devoutly hoped that the two were merely bent on exploring the place and that the darkness of the old lumber-room would quickly satisfy their curiosity and send them down again.  I heard them come into the room, the man speaking in a tone so low that the words were indistinguishable from where I stood; and then the sound of the door being shut struck my ear unpleasantly.