She fled across the head of the staircase and was at the door of the library in a second of time. There she paused. No, there was no sound behind her! No one was coming upstairs! No one was opening the front door or moving in the hall! But it was just possible that he had already arrived and was sitting in the library. He might be sitting there--and looking severe! That would be alarming! Though--and here Gwen suddenly decided that for all his severity she infinitely preferred his appearance to that of a man like Mr. Boreham--Mr. Boreham's beard was surely the limit! She listened at the door. She laid her cheek against it and listened. No sound! The whole house illuminated and yet silent! There was something strange about it! She would peep in and if there was no light within--except, of course, firelight--she would know instantly that the Warden wasn't there. It would only take her a flash of a minute to run in, throw the letter down on the desk, and fly for all she was worth.
She turned the handle of the door slowly and noiselessly, and pushed ever so little. The door opened just an inch or two and disclosed--darkness! Except for a glimmer--just a faint glimmer of light!
He could not have come in, he could not possibly be there, and yet Gwen had a curious impression that the room was not empty. But empty it must be. She pushed the door quietly open and peeped in. The fire was burning on the hearth in solemn silence, a cavernous red. There was nobody in the room, and yet, as Gwen stole in and passed the projecting book-case opposite the door, against which she had stumbled that evening of evenings, she felt that she was not alone. It was a strange unpleasant feeling. There she was standing in the full space of that shadowy room. Books, books were everywhere--books that seemed to her keeping secrets in their pages and purposely not saying anything. The room was too long, too full of dead things--like books--too full of shadows. The heavy curtains looked black, the desk, its chair standing with its back to the fire--had a look of expecting to be occupied and waiting. She would have liked to have thrown the letter on to the desk instead of having to cross the few feet that separated her from the desk. The silence of the room was alarming! Something seemed to be ready to jump at her! Was something in the room? Gwen made a dash for the desk and threw down the letter. As she did so, a sudden thrill passed up her spine and stiffened her hair. She was _not_ alone! There _was_ somebody in the room, a shadow, an outline, at the far end of the room against one of the curtains--a man, a strange figure, looking straight at her! He was standing, bending forward but motionless against the curtain, and staring with eyes that had no life in them--at her!