The hall turned sharply to the right, narrowing and becoming dark as the rays of light failed to negotiate the corner.

Twenty feet down this passage ended in a door.

This was unlocked, and yielded easily to the grasp of her hand.

It opened upon a narrow platform, and she ventured forth.

Gripping the hand-rail she descended slowly into the darkness below, the excitement of the adventure causing her heart to beat like a trip-hammer.
At the bottom she was in a gloom almost impenetrable, but her feet felt a cinder path and against the slightly lighter sky her eyes managed to distinguish the gaunt limbs of a tree not far distant, the only one visible and doubtless the cottonwood referred to in the note.
Shrinking there in the black shadow of the building she realised suddenly the terror of her position--the intense loneliness; the silence seemed to smite her.