But when she was half-way across a sudden burst of laughter from the dining-room brought her to a stop with her hand upon her heart and a little sob not altogether stifled in her throat.

It meant so much to her that the desperate adventure of this night should be carried through! If all went well, as it must--oh, as it surely must!--by midnight she would be free of her terrors and distress.
The laughter in the dining room died down.

Joan stole forward again.

She drew away the heavy curtains from the long window, and the moonlight, clear and bright like silver, poured into the room and clothed her in its soft radiance.

She drew back the bolts at the top and bottom of the glass door and turned the key in the lock.