Won't you help me--" I forgot to finish.

In my eagerness to impress him I had turned in his direction, and was staring straight at his easy figure and faintly smiling features, when the molding against which he leaned caught my eye.

With a total absence of every other thought than the idea which had suddenly come to me, I sprang forward and pressed with my whole weight against one of the edges of the molding which had a darker hue about it than the rest.

I felt it give, felt the floor start from under me at the same moment, and in another heard the clatter and felt the force of the toppling cabinet on my shoulder as it and I went shooting down into the hole I had been so anxious to penetrate, though not in just this startling fashion.
The cry, uttered by Mr.Steele as I disappeared from before his eyes, was my first conscious realization of what had happened after I had struck the ground below.
"Are you hurt ?" he cried, with real commiseration, as he leaned over to look for me in the hollow at his feet.

"Wait and I will drop down to you," he went on, swinging himself into a position to leap.
I was trembling with the shock and probably somewhat bruised, but not hurt enough to prevent myself from scrambling to my feet, as he slid down to my side and offered me his arm for support.
"What did you do ?" he asked.