They were coming up out of that hole in the floor. Where had they been, and what had they been doing down there? She tried to think how long they had been away. It is very difficult to measure time in the dark. She didn’t really know how long she had sat at the top of the stairs, because when you think that the person whom you love most in the world is dead, time goes by and you don’t notice it. After that she had gone into her room, put on her dressing-gown, and gone down the old stair to the kitchen. That would only have taken a very few minutes—perhaps two or three, because she had had to feel her way and go slowly. After that there was another break in her reckoning, because she didn’t know how long she had been lost in her fear when she found the back door locked. These thoughts went through her mind like flashes whilst the men were coming up out of the hole. She heard them swing the flagstone into its place and roll the barrel back into the corner. Then she heard Jimmy Halliday’s voice, speaking so close to her that she very nearly cried out.
