Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 356: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ANOTHER DARK PLOT 339 a kiss, and we will begin our discussion. Good!” he ex- claimed, when the Amazon had withdrawn her moist lips from his own. “ In the first place, let us reflect in which part of the house we are located.” “This window must look out at the back,” said ean who was seated on Meagles’s knee, with one arm around i neck. ‘‘ Of that I am confident, Faden by the situation of the staircases which we mounted and the turnings we took.”’ “Yes, you are right enough,’ observed her companion, after a few moments’ reflection. ‘‘ The next point to con- sider is, on which floor are we? The house is not a high one — that we know, as we have seen it from the outside. We ascended two flights of stairs, and that loft which we entered may be called the second story. Well, then we descended again to this crib, and consequently we are on the first floor. Now, having ascertained so important a point, it remains to be determined whether we can escape from the window. Let us see if it is protected by bars.”’ Meagles rose, and cautiously opened the casement. There was no ironwork to prevent an egress in that direction; but when he looked forth and endeavoured to penetrate the in- tense darkness without, he could not possibly discover how deep the yard lay below. That there was a yard, or some such enclosure at the back of the premises, he, however, felt convinced; because the adjacent buildings hemmed in with their black walls a small square open space. But it did not at all follow that this yard must be upon the same level with the street. There might be underground kitchens belonging to the premises; in which case the yard would be a dozen feet, or even more, lower than the ground in front of the house. The object, then, was to form a rope long enough-to meet this contingency. Having carefully discussed all the chances for and against them, Tim Meagles and the Amazon resolved to undertake the adventure. Once let them get down into the yard, and they were resolved to arm themselves with anything they could convert into weapons of defence, and then endeavour to fight their way through all opposition which might present itself. There was also the probability of the existence of some outlet from the back part of the premises; in which case they would be spared the necessity of attempting to force their way through the house. At any rate, they were deter- GOmiicsdoo cS (E()