I suspected,
as there was no other ironwork near, that the mysterious visitor
must have been sawing at this grating for private purposes of his
own. I gave it a good shake, and I was not at all surprised that a
good part of it came off in my hand, leaving just enough room for
a person to creep through. I decided that I would creep through,
and now wish I hadn't. I don't know, Mr Babylon, whether you
have ever tried to creep through a small hole with a skirt on. Have
you?'
'I have not had that pleasure,' said little Felix , bowing again, and
absently taking up a bottle which lay to his hand.
'Well, you are fortunate,' the imperturbable Nella resumed. 'For
quite three minutes I thought I should perish in that grating, Dad,
with my shoulder inside and the rest of me outside. However, at
last, by the most amazing and agonizing efforts, I pulled myself
through and fell into this extraordinary cellar more dead than alive.
Then I wondered what I should do next. Should I wait for the
mysterious visitor to return, and stab him with my pocket scissors
if he tried to enter, or should I raise an alarm? First of all I
replaced the broken grating, then I struck a match, and I saw that I
had got landed in a wilderness of bottles. The match went out, and
I hadn't another one. So I sat down in the corner to think. I had just
decided to wait and see if the visitor returned, when I heard
footsteps, and then voices; and then you came in.
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