"Shall I help you up out of this?
Your curiosity must be amply satisfied." "Not yet, not yet," I cried.

"Oh! it is as I thought," I now exclaimed, peering around the corner of the cabinet into a place of total darkness.
"The passage is here, running directly under the alley-way.

Help me, help me, I must follow it to the end.

I'm sure it communicates with the house next door." He had to humor me.

I already had one hand on the cabinet's edge, and should have pushed it aside by my own strength if he had not interfered.
The space we were in was so small, some four feet square, I should judge, that the utmost we could do was to shove one corner of it slightly aside, so as to make a narrow passage into the space beyond.
Through this I slipped and should have stepped recklessly on if he had not caught me back and suggested that he go first into what might have its own pitfalls and dangers.
I did not fear these, but was glad, nevertheless, to yield to his suggestion and allow him to pass me.