Page:The Whisper on the Stair by Lyon Mearson (1924).djvu/162



was little else Val could do, besides “think it over pretty carefully” while Ignace Teck was gone. He could see all of the room from the couch on which he lay, and he inspected it carefully. It was an ordinary bedroom. At one end of the room, at a blank wall, was a walnut bed. On the other blank wall, opposite the only window, was the couch. At the south end was the door leading into the living room, where he could hear the guard addressed as Rat stirring occasionally. Near that end of the room was a small table.

There was no entrance to the room but the door, and Rat was outside that, though Val was grateful that he did not choose to sit in the same room with him. He reflected that probably the other cared as little for his company as he cared for that of the Rat. The window was just an ordinary window, with no fire-escape outside it. It provided no mode of ready entrance or egress that Val could see. The window was closed its full length, though not locked, as Val could see from where he lay. There was no reason for locking it, evidently.

Next Val gave his attention to the cord that bound him. He found little here that was of any comfort to him. He was bound tightly, and it took very little time Rh