He sat down a third time,
and gazed info the gardens where the shadows were creeping darkly. Not a
soul in the gardens. Then he felt a draught on the crown of his head,
and looking aloft he saw that the summit of the window had a transverse
glazed flap, for ventilation, and that this flap had been left open. If
he could have climbed up, he might have fallen out on the other side
into the gardens and liberty. But the summit of the window was at least
sixteen feet from the floor. Night descended.
IV
At a vague hour in the evening a stout woman dressed in black, with a
black apron, a neat violet cap on her head, and a small lamp in her
podgy hand, unlocked one of the doors giving entry to the state rooms.
She was on her nightly round of inspection. The autumn moon, nearly at
full, had risen and was shining into the great windows. And in front of
the furthest window she perceived in the radiance of the moonshine a
pyramidal group, somewhat in the style of a family of acrobats,
dangerously arranged on the stage of a music-hall. The base of the
pyramid comprised two settees; upon these were several arm-chairs laid
flat, and on the arm-chairs two tables covered with cushions and rugs;
lastly, in the way of inanimate nature, two gilt chairs.
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