know the way and can guide us in the dark, can you not? It will be safer not to leave the lamp burning."
I blew the light out without waiting for an answer, and took her hand in mine.
"Now you must lead," I said softly. "We will go down the back stairs."
We slipped out into the hall together, her clasp on my fingers warm and confident, and I closed the door of the room behind us. Nichols had shouted some threat as the lock clicked, but was now silent. The soft carpet under foot enabled us to move noiselessly, and there was no sound in the deserted house. A flash of lightning enabled me to glimpse the window at the end of the hall, and my companion's face. She looked pale under the peak of her boy's cap, her eyes large and opened wide, a strand of loosened hair shadowing one cheek. Then it was pitchy darkness again, and all about us the silence of a tomb. My hand encountered the baluster rail, and she had taken a single step downward, when we heard a voice below, and the crash of what was probably the stock of a rifle on the outer door. A second blow fell, followed by the sound of splintering wood. The voice came sharper, clearer; I could distinguish the words.
"Now, once more, Kelly! There's nothing to be afraid of, man. Break it a foot lower down, so
