Will you wait while I run up ?" "No," said Nick.

"I'm coming too." They ascended therefore, and commenced to search the upper regions.

But the same absolute quiet reigned above as below.

Only the loud ticking of a cuckoo-clock at the head of the stairs aggravated the stillness.
Olga opened one or two doors along the passage and looked into empty rooms, and finally turned round to Nick with scared eyes.
"What can have happened?
Where can she be gone ?" As she uttered the words, there fell a heavy footstep in the sanded passage below, and the sound of a man's cough came up to them.
Nick wheeled.

"Hi, Briggs! Is that you ?" "Briggs it is," said a thick voice.
Nick descended the stairs with Olga behind him, and encountered the owner thereof at the bottom.