I wish we were out o' this.
_Here's_ the box.'
'Pull it to the window,' said the old man, to my inexpressible relief
advancing at last a few steps.
Coolness was given me in that dreadful moment, and I knew that all depended
on my being prompt and resolute. I stood up swiftly. I often thought if I
had happened to wear silk instead of the cachmere I had on that night, its
rustle would have betrayed me.
I distinctly saw the tall stooping figure of my uncle, and the outline of
his venerable tresses, as he stood between me and the dull light of the
window, like a shape cut in card.
He was saying 'just to _there_,' and pointing with his long arm at that
contracting patch of moonlight which lay squared upon the floor. The door
was about a quarter open, and just as Dudley began to drag Madame's heavy
box, with my jewel-case in it, across the floor from her room, inhaling a
great breath--with a mental prayer for help--I glided on tiptoe from the
room and found myself on the gallery floor.
I turned to my right, simply by chance, and followed a long gallery in the
dark, not running--I was too fearful of making the least noise--but walking
with the tiptoe-swiftness of terror.
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