Thinking's no good for one's
nerve. I concluded I would give up the whole business. But I didn't
give up in the end, and I'll tell you what stopped me. It was the
recollection of that confounded doorkeeper who had called after me. I
felt sure the fellow would be on the look-out at the head of the stairs.
If he asked me what I had been after, as he had the right to do, I
wouldn't know what to answer that wouldn't make me look silly if no
worse. I got very hot. There was no chance of slinking out of this
business.
"I had lost my bearings somehow down there. Of the many doors of various
sizes, right and left, a good few had glazed lights above; some however
must have led merely into lumber rooms or such like, because when I
brought myself to try one or two I was disconcerted to find that they
were locked. I stood there irresolute and uneasy like a baffled thief.
The confounded basement was as still as a grave and I became aware of my
heart beats. Very uncomfortable sensation. Never happened to me before
or since. A bigger door to the left of me, with a large brass handle
looked as if it might lead into the Shipping Office.
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