Evening star., 1925-03-15
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ofJane Smith .',, B, s11sen % . rss.ves.s s'.., a.,

then that the cheering thought that she
might perhaps encounter Henry came
to her, only to fade as she remembered
how long past midnight it now was.
However. if she had not Henry she had
at least light. 1t is much harder to
be brave in the pitch dark even when,
as in the present case, the darkness
is really protection.
Jane walked quite blithely up the
second passage the left until she
came to the point where she knew that
she must put the light out again.
Molloy might be awake. She blew out
her candle and began to feel her way
forward. She came to the corner, and
passed it. Moving very slowly and eau
tiously. she crept UP to the steel gate
and stood with her fingertips on it.,
listening. and thinking hard. She
could feel that the door was ajar.
That struck her as strange, very
strange. If there ever was a man
badly scared, Molloy was that man
when she had said that the secret of
the passages was not confined to him
self and Ember. Yet he had gone to
sleep leaving the gate ajar. Had he?
James mind gave a clear and definite
answer He hadn't, he wouldn't. She
had been sure that the gate would be
shut, so ready with her plan. She was
going to unfold the papers, push them
between the bars, and jerk them as
far across the room as possible. Mo!loy
might think they had fallen from the
bench, or, if he had his doubts, might
well wish to avoid letting Ember know
that Jane had been in the laboratory.
All this she had so present in her
thought. that to feel the gate give to
her hand staggered her and set her
shaking She quieted herself and
listened intently. Not a sound.
She did not somehow fancy that
Molloy would be a quiet sleeper She
had anticipated snores of a certain rich
bass quality. Here was silence in which
one might have heard an infant draw
its breath--a silence undisturbed, in
violate.
It was not only the silence which
spoke to Jane. That odd. dim, only
half-understood sense which some
people possess clamored to her that
the place was empty. AS she stood
there. and the seconds dragged into
minutes, the sense became SO insistent
that she found herself resolving to act
in obedience to it's dictates.
She pushed the gate and heard the
alarm ring. With her ears she listened
for the sound of a man stirring, walk
ing and starting up AT the first move
ment she would have been away, and
Molloy new reused from sleep, would
never have caught sight of her. There
was no movement. The bell went on
ringing, a little continuous trickle of
metallic sound. not loud but as confus-
ing the buzzing Of a mosquito.
Jane switched on the light, slipped
round the gate and closed 1t. The
bell stopped ringing. The Jared
silence settled slowly, as dust settles
when 1t has been stirred. There was
no one there. The unshaded light
showed every corner of the chamber.
Molloy's bag was gone Like flick in
the face came certainty. Hes gone.
Molloy's gone too"
Slowly, almost mechanically. Jane
extracted the rolled-up lists from her
stocking. She was still holding the
unlighted candle in her left hand. The
lists bothered her. She moved toward
the bench to put them down. but first
she laid the candle carefully on it's side
SO as not to stub the wick, and, sitting
down. began to smooth the papers out
upon her knee. 1t was while she was
doing this that she saw the note.
1t lay on the end of the bench
propped up against a book. 1t was
| addressed to Jeffrey Ember, Esquire
The capital Els were magnificent -four
ishes: an underlining like an orna-
mental scroll 10 supported the super
scription. Jane, like other well-brougtt-