"Take care!" he gasped.
There was a great cavity before them. Here, at the end of the gallery,
before reaching the corridor which communicated with the private house,
there was a steam lift of great power, which was principally used for
lowering heavy articles to the packing room. It only worked as a rule on
certain days; on all others the huge trap remained closed. When the
appliance was working a watchman was always stationed there to
superintend the operations.
"Take care! take care!" Morange repeated, shuddering with terror.
The trap was open, and the huge cavity gaped before them; there was no
barrier, nothing to warn them and prevent them from making a fearful
plunge. The rain still pelted on the glass roof, and the darkness had
become so complete in the gallery that they had walked on without seeing
anything before them. Another step would have hurled them to destruction.
It was little short of miraculous that the accountant should have become
anxious in presence of the increasing gloom in that corner, where he had
divined rather than perceived the abyss.
Constance, however, still failing to understand her companion, sought to
free herself from his wild grasp.
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