Has any one come up these steps ?" "Not a one, sir." "And I was at the head of the other stairs.

Then he is hiding in the cellar yet." Suddenly I remembered that Billie was below exposed to danger; in that semi-darkness the murderous villain might creep upon her unobserved.
The thought sent a cold chill to my heart, and I sprang down again to the stone floor.
"Three of you come down, and bring up the body," I called back.

"Then we'll hunt the devil." She had not left the lower step of the front stairs, but caught my hands as though the darkness, the dread uncertainty, had robbed her of all reserve.
"What is it ?" she asked.

"I do not understand what has happened." "The man you locked up has escaped," I explained, holding her tightly to me, the very trembling of her figure yielding me courage.

"I haven't the entire story, but this must be the way of it: One of the men on duty in the kitchen came down here hunting for liquor.