He was back in a moment to say that the number was right: "And all asleep, Miss, by the look of it. Shall I knock somebody up? There's no bell." "No, not yet. What time is it, Mr. Crosby?" "Twenty minutes of three," I told her. "She must have got the message before now," she said, half to herself. Then, after a little thought, "Stay here with the car, Thomas. Mr. Crosby and I are going in." "You're not going into such a place at this hour!" I protested. "Tell me what it is and let me go." "No, I'm coming too. Don't stop to talk about it, please." The door yielded and let us into a stained and[Pg 102] choking hallway, faintly lighted by a blue flicker of gas at the far end. The stairs were worn into creaking hollows, and the noise of our passing, though instinctively we crept upward like thieves, awakened a multitude of squeaks and scufflings behind the plaster. The banisters were everywhere loose and shaky, and in places they were entirely broken away, so that we went close along the filthy wall rather than trust to them. Each hallway was like the one below; narrow, dusty and airless, with its blue spurt of gas giving us just light enough to find our way without groping. At last we reached the top, and Lady knocked softly on the door at the end of the hall. [Pg 102] There was no answer. She knocked again. I turned up the gas, and as I did so a fat beetle ran from under my feet. I stepped on it, and wished that I had not done so. "Are you sure this is the place?" I whispered. "Yes; I've been here before. But I don't understand. Sheila knew that we were coming." "Look," said I, "the door is unlatched. Shall I go in?" For an instant the oppression of the place was too much for her, and she clung to my arm whispering,[Pg 103] "I'm afraid—I'm afraid!" Then before I could speak, she had caught up her courage. [Pg 103] "Yes," she said. "Open it if you can." The door swung a few inches, then resisted. Something soft and heavy, like a mattress, seemed to be braced against the bottom of it. I felt for the revolver in my pocket, then put my weight against the panel. The
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