Creeping softly down, afraid every moment that the stairs would creak—for stairs always have a horrid habit of creaking in the silence of the night—she carried the letter in her hand for the purpose of placing it in the rack in the study which Laura always cleared when she went to the room in the morning, and Kate took the letters to the post-office down at the corner.
Reaching the landing she crossed it to the study-door, but as she did so she saw, to her surprise, a light issuing from the crack beneath.
Her father had evidently returned there to continue his work, as he sometimes did when unable to sleep.
For a second she hesitated whether she should enter, but making up her mind suddenly, she placed her fingers upon the handle and opened the door.
Next instant, however, uttering a low cry, she stood upon the threshold, rigid as one petrified.
Chapter Thirty Four.
“Silence for Silence!”
“You!”