Perhaps I had no more than temporary inconveniences to dread.
My intention was innocent, and I had been betrayed into my present situation, not by my own wickedness, but the wickedness of others.
I was deeply impressed with the ambiguousness which would necessarily rest upon my motives, and the scrutiny to which they would be subjected.
I shuddered at the bare possibility of being ranked with thieves.

These reflections again gave edge to my ingenuity in search of the means of escape.

I had carefully attended to the circumstances of their entrance.
Possibly the act of locking had been unnoticed; but was it not likewise possible that this person had been mistaken?
The key was gone.

Would this have been the case if the door were unlocked?
My fears, rather than my hopes, impelled me to make the experiment.

I drew back the latch, and, to my unspeakable joy, the door opened.
I passed through and explored my way to the staircase.