But his (sic) embarassments were not
quite at an end. Opening the door, he found himself in the entry,
but in the darkness. On entering the house he had not noticed the
location of the stairs, and was afraid that some noise or stumbling
might reveal to Foley the attempted escape of his prisoner. He took
off his boots, and crept down-stairs in his stocking feet.
Unfortunately he had not kept the proper bearing in his mind, and
the result was, that he opened the door of a room on one side of the
front door. It was used as a bedroom. At the sound of the door
opening, the occupant of the bed, Mr. Foley himself, called out,
drowsily, "Who's there?"
Jack, aware of his mistake, precipitately retired, and concealed
himself under the front stairs, a refuge which his good fortune led
him to, for he could see absolutely nothing.
The sleeper, just awakened, was naturally a little confused in his
ideas. He had not seen Jack. He had merely heard the noise, and
thought he saw the door moving. But of this he was not certain. To
make sure, however, he got out of bed, and opening wide the door of
his room, called out, "Is anybody there?"
Jack had excellent reasons for not wishing to volunteer an answer to
this question. One advantage of the opened door (for there was a
small oil lamp burning in the room) was to reveal to him the nature
of the mistake he had made, and to show him the front door in which,
by rare good fortune, he could discover the key in the lock.
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