Finding that all remained still, he ventured to open the door and to look forth. By aid of a faint light shed by a lamp hung from the ceiling, he saw that the corridor was empty. His trained hearing caught neither the hasty movement of feet nor the sound of closing doors; nothing whatever occurred to suggest that any of the Princess’s retinue had been on the watch.
Thus assured, he stepped out into the passage, quietly closing the door behind him.
It was a new thing for Wilfrid to be stealing along a corridor at night like a thief, fearful of being seen or heard—an altogether humiliating experience, made endurable only by the thought that it was necessary for the honour, the safety, perhaps even the life, of the Princess. Twenty paces—he had a reason for taking accurate measurement—brought him to a landing, whence a short staircase led to the floor above, where was a corridor, similar in all respects to the one he had just left.
Moving forward twenty paces along this, Wilfrid paused before a certain door.
“Directly above the Princess’s room, Nadia said. Then this should be it. Now, pray Heaven, I am not disturbing some other person’s sleep.”
He cautiously opened the door, and quietly exploring his way through the darkness, reached the bed. It was empty. Re-lighting the lamp he found himself in a room whose appointments seemed to show that it was intended for the use of a male visitor.
Whether or not it was the room that Nadia had meant for him mattered little; he was not going to look for any other; so locking the door he went to bed, and was soon sound asleep.
CHAPTER V
DISCOVERED, OR NOT DISCOVERED?
“It is past ten o’clock, gospodin.”