Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/118

102 plan in his own mind, only his blind confidence that Hannah, who had succeeded so completely in her former scheme, would now be better able to find a hiding-place for him than he could himself. His plight was desperate, and already he fancied that he could hear the voices of the men in the yard.

Without faltering a moment Hannah ran swiftly to a side of the room, and instantly turning a button, opened a door that seemed to be a part of the wall.

"Here! In here!" she exclaimed in a low voice. As Robert faltered a moment, she said more eagerly, "What are you waiting for? Go in! Go in! Get close up to the wall! Pull the clothes over you! Don't you dare to breathe!"

Almost thrusting him in, she placed him in the farther corner of what Robert could see was evidently a clothes-press. On pegs on the wall various garments were hanging, and behind these he took his stand, while Hannah, working in desperate haste, arranged the garments so that they completely concealed his presence. The task had barely been completed when the sound of voices in the room below was heard, and Robert knew that the crisis had come.