of the _édredon_. Semlin's bag went next, and made no sound to speak of;
then his overcoat and hat followed suit.

I noticed, with a grateful heart, that the eiderdown and pillows
covered practically the whole of the flags of the yard.

I went back once more to the room and blew out the candle. Then, taking
a short hold on my silken rope, I clambered out over the window ledge
and started to let myself down, hand over hand, into the depths.

My two bell-ropes, knotted together, were about twenty feet long, so I
had to reckon on a clear drop of something over thirty feet. The poker
and shutter held splendidly firm, and I found little difficulty in
lowering myself, though I barked my knuckles most unpleasantly on the
rough stucco of the wall. As I reached the extremity of my rope I
glanced downward. The red splash of the eiderdown, just visible in the
light from the adjoining window, seemed to be a horrible distance below
me. My spirit failed me. My determination began to ebb. I could never
risk it.

The rope settled the question for me. It snapped without warning--how it
had supported my weight up to then I don't know--and I fell in a heap
(and, as it seemed to me at the time, with a most reverberating crash)
on to the soft divan I had prepared for my reception.

I came down hard, very hard, but old Madame's plump eiderdown and
pillows certainly helped to break my fall. I dropped square on top of
the eiderdown with one knee on a pillow and, though shaken and jarred, I
found I had broken no bones.