"Oh, don't you see? You are here so much in his power. Oh, we must fly. I'll hunt along the passage to-night, and I'm sure I'll find something. I'm sure there must be a way out."
"But I don't want to go," said Katie; "that is, not just yet."
"Not want to go?"
"No, not till I have some more fun, and see how this is going to end; but—"
Here Katie stopped abruptly and clutched Harry's arm convulsively. Harry, too, at the same instant started, and both stood peering into the dark, and listening attentively.
For there had come a sudden noise.
It was a very peculiar and a very startling noise. It was a low, shuffling sound, as of some one moving stealthily, and it arose from the direction of the fireplace—the very place where Harry's retreat would lie in case of discovery. But now that retreat seemed cut off; and there seemed to be some one there who, perhaps, had come on his track. Harry's only thought was that his room had been entered and his absence discovered, upon which his guards had at once come through in search of him. How many there were he could not tell. He could do nothing, however. He could only stand still and watch. Soon, he thought, others would come; lights would be produced, and he would be discovered.
"Leave me!" said Harry, in a faint whisper. "It's one of the guards. I'm lost!"
Katie's answer thrilled through every nerve of the listener.
"Then if you are lost, I will be lost with you!"