If I escape----Oh, I can't write any more; but I know you will understand.

You are the most wonderful girl, the bravest, the most generous, in the whole world Good-bye." Celia sank into the chair and, with the scrawl tightly clenched in her hand, burst into tears.

She sat and waited and listened; a quarter of an hour dragged by; footsteps, some dragging and stealthy, some light and free, passed up and down the stairs, and every step made her heart leap with apprehension.

Had he gone?
Oh, why had he not gone?
There was danger in every moment.

Presently she heard a faint, almost inaudible knock at her door; she rose quickly and opened it a little way; no one was standing outside, the corridor was empty; but she heard someone descending the stairs below her.