Evening star., 1925-03-16

About feet from where she
stood, and exactly in her path, was
the black mouth of an uncovered
well. Jane looked at it,, and quite
suddenly. she had no idea how, found
herself sitting on the floor with hot
wax running down her hand from
the guttering candle. 1t seemed TO
be quite a little time before she
could make sure of walking steadily
enough to skirt the well. She went
by it at last with averted head and
fingers that, regardless of slime,
clung to the wall.
AS she had expected, the passage
ran suddenly into the main corridor.
She passed the headland exit, and
once more was on unknown ground.
The passage swung round to the
right and began to slope downhill
Jane held her candle high and looked
at every step, but there were no more
traps. She quickened her pace al
most to a run a s the dreadful thought
came TO her that Ember might fol-
low Molloy The passage sloped more
and more Finally thore We're steps,
smooth. worn and damp. that went
down, and down. and down. At the
bottom OF the steps yard or two
OF peculiarly Shiny passage, and then
a blank stone wall. Obviously Jane
had arrived.
She looked at the stone. wall. and
the stone wall presented front OF
unconlpro omising blankness.. She
looked up and she looked down,
she looked TO the left, and she
looked to the right. she gaEed at the
ceiling and she gazed atc-the floor.
Nowhere was there any sign of q
catch, a knob. a spring or lever
There must be one. but where was 1t:
She tapped the wall and stamped on
the floor but with no result. The
door in the paneling opened from In
side with an ordinary handle. She
had not been close enough to Lady
Heritage to see what she did to pivot
the stone behind the bench on the
headland In any case, this exit
might have been quite differently
planned.
A most dreadful sense Of discour-
agement came over her. To have got
so far. to have be en-, as II were,
halfway TO safety and Henry, and to
have to turn back again! Then
for the first time it occurred to
her that. even II she had got
out and got away. she had no
money and no hat She looked down
at the maroon slippers and pictured
herself descending tickettess upon a
London platform In bedroom slippers
whose original color was almost OBJ
scured by green slime.
Jane wanted 10 laugh and sh.
wanted to cry. She. did not know
which she wanted most, but presently
she found that the tears were running
down her face. She kept winkfng
them away. because IL IS not at all
easy to climb slippery stone steps by
the light of gutering candle II
your eyes keep filling with tears
The tears magnifed the candle flame
and sometimes made il look like two
or three little flames, which was
dreadfulIy confusing. Jane stood still,
wiped her eyes with determined en-
ergy, and then climbed UP more steps
and back along the way that she had
come. ~
At the headland exit she stood stilI,
taking breath and thought. Nothing
would induce her to pass that well
again. She would keep to the main
passage, and. horrid thought, she
would have to put OUT her light IN
case Ember should suddenly emerge
from the side passage. y
Thinking about things makes them
worse, not better" said Jane to her.
self. IT'S perfectly. .beastIy. but
then. it's all perfectly beastly.
She blew out the candle and moved
slowly forward.
1t seemed ages before she came past
the opening where she had run into
Henry to the foot OF the steps. She
went up three steps, raised her foot
to take the fourth and felt hardly
perceptibIe check. Instantly she
drew back a shade, set her foot down
beside the other, and put out tenta-
tive, cropping hand. There was a
thread of cotton stretched from wall
to wall at the level of her waist IL
her movements had been less gentle,
she would have brushed through It
without noticing. Then, as she stood
there thinking, the thread between
her fingers, something else came TO
her The last yard of passage just
at the stair foot had felt different
dry. gritty.
Jane descended the three steps
backward. and. crouching on the bot
tom one, put down her hand and felt
the floor OF the passage. There was
sand on it, dry sand, which had no
been there when she came down. and
in the dry sand her footprints would
be clearly marked. Obviously, Mr.
Ember had his suspicious and his
methods of verifying them. Though
what on earth he'd make of cork
soles ! don't know" said Jane. She
decided not to worry him with this
problem.
1t was horribly dangerous, but she
must have a light She set her can
die end on the step above her and
struck a match. 1t made a noise like
a squib and went out. She struck
another and got the candle lighted.
The sand was yellow sand off the
beach, but nice and dry. Two and q
half of her footprints showed plainly
on its smooth surface. Jane leaned
forward and smoothed them out
Then she blew out her candle anC
felt safer. Feeling for the thread OF
cotton, she crawled beneath it, thei
very, very slowly up the rest of the
steps, her hand before her all the
way till she came TO the door in the
paneling. She opened it and slipped
through into the hall.
The gray. uncertain light was fill
tering into. 1t. Everything looked
strange and cold. Jane closed the
door. and never knew that a loose
strand of cotton had fallen as she
passed. Neither did she know that
at that very moment Jeffrey Ember
was standing by the open well mouth
the ray from his powerful electric
torch focused upon a little patch OF
candle grease.
CHAPTER XIII.
Anthony Luttrell caught a slow