There was no sound anywhere in the house, and it was all dark. I fetched the lamp from my room and went to the stairhead.
Was it after all nothing but some fresh ruse?
I examined the revolver Inez had given me. It was loaded.
I was mystified.
I began to descend the stairs, but paused.
If I carried a light I should be an easy mark for any one having a fancy to make a target of my body.
Setting the lamp down I felt my way by the balustrade and crept down in the dark, careful to make as little noise as possible and halting every now and again to listen.
In this way I descended two storeys, and tried in vain to remember how many flights I had been carried up, that I might know on which floor I stood.
Feeling in my pockets I found my matches and was about to strike one when I heard a footstep followed by a smothered exclamation, as if some one had stumbled in the dark. The sound came from some distance below.
Instinctively I shrank back against the wall and stood holding my breath and listening intently.