17
LONGSTREET followed Trask through the secret door while I was yet wondering whether our leader had gone mad. Before I could lay hold of it, the door closed after him. I fumbled wildly in the dark for its inner catch, found it and sprang out after them. In the house all was silent again, strangely, ominously silent, as if brooding a new horror. Trask was at the banister again. I saw him slowly, furtively bend over it and look down. Evidently he perceived no danger, for he bent further and further over without once drawing back. I dreaded to look on what he looked, but could not keep myself from doing it. I bent over carefully and looked into the hall below. Not a person was to be seen.
I turned to Trask with astonishment. His attention seemed to be centered, not on the lower hall, but
