light, no thicker than a thread, shone for an instant in the dark corner
of the wall close by the door-post, but it died away almost before I saw
it. My heart stood still for a moment, and then beat like a hammer. I
stole very softly to the door, and discovered that the bolt had slipped
beyond the hoop of the lock; probably in the sharp bang with which it
had been closed. The door was open for me!




CHAPTER THE SECOND.

TO SOUTHAMPTON.


There was not a moment to be lost. When the servant came downstairs
again from her room in the attics, she would be sure to call for the
tea-tray, in order to save herself another journey; how long she would
be up-stairs was quite uncertain. If she was gone to "clean" herself, as
she called it, the process might be a very long one, and a good hour
might be at my disposal; but I could not count upon that. In the
drawing-room below sat my jailer and enemy, who might take a whim into
her head, and come up to see her prisoner at any instant. It was
necessary to be very quick, very decisive, and very silent.

I had been on the alert for such a chance ever since my imprisonment
began. My seal-skin hat and jacket lay ready to my hand in a drawer; but
I could find no gloves; I could not wait for gloves. Already there were
ominous sounds overhead, as if the servant had dispatched her brief
business there, and was about to come down. I had not time to put on