She must not be found
there by her uncle or Lord Rosmore who might seek her there if by chance
they discovered that she had not returned to her own rooms. Almost
certainly they would have her watched to-night. Yet she must stay to
warn Martin and Gilbert Crosby, if by chance they were still ignorant of
their danger. It would never do for them to be caught in the tower, from
which there was no hope of escape.
There was a small landing outside the room. At the top of the winding
stairs there was a door, fastened back by a clamp, and Barbara had never
known this door to be shut. Another winding stair led to the flat roof
of the tower, where Martin often spent hours, reading the future in the
stars, he said. She went to the roof now, but it was empty, and she came
down again quickly. Perhaps they were sitting in the ruins, and had not
heard her. She would go and see. As she descended a sound came to
her--running feet--and through one of the narrow slits which gave a dim
light to the stairs in daytime she discerned two men crossing the ruins.
It was so dark in the tower that she could see them easily. They were
not half-way across when other men came running from the terrace, but
the fugitives could easily have reached the tower and closed the door
upon their pursuers had not one of them caught his foot and fallen.
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