with one mind, Lemuel and I seated ourselves on a step and waited
until Henry should get the elevator running again and could
proceed to the street floor.

For a while we could hear no noise but the grating of metal on
metal as Henry worked with the starting lever of the elevator,
and then we heard the two voices of the fathers.

"It is a ruse," said one father. "They are pretending the
elevator is stuck, and when we grow impatient and start up the
stairs they will come down with a rush and escape us."

"But we are not so silly as that," said the other father. "We
will stay right here and wait until they come down."

At that Lemuel and I settled ourselves more comfortably, for
there was nothing else to do. I cursed inwardly as I felt the
minutes slip by and knew that half-past six had come and gone,
but I was sure you would not like to have me desert those two
poor lovers who were fighting to ward off the statistics, so I
sat still and silent. So did Lemuel.

I do not know how long I sat there, for it was already dark in
the narrow stairway, but it must have been a long time. I drowsed
off, and I was finally awakened by Lemuel tugging at my sleeve,
and I knew that Henry had managed to start the elevator again.
Lemuel and I hastened our steps, and just as the elevator was
coming into sight below the second floor we were seen by the two
fathers. For an instant they hesitated, and then they seized us.
At the same time the elevator door opened and Henry and Madge