hat and jacket before entering; something went fizz-bang! snap! clink!
and the lights in the car were extinguished.

"Oh!" shrieked the maid, "it's running away again! Jump, sir!"

The ornate, rococo elevator, as a matter of fact, was running away,
upward, slowly at first. Its astonished occupant turned to jump out--too
late.

"P-push the third button, sir! Quick!" cried the maid, wringing her
hands.

"W-where is it!" stammered the young man, groping nervously in the dark
car. "I can't see any."

"Cr-rack!" went something.

"It's stopped! It's going to fall!" screamed the maid. "Run, Ferdinand!"

The man at the door ran upstairs for a few steps, then distractedly slid
to the bottom, shouting:

"Are you hurt, sir?"

"No," came a disgusted voice from somewhere up the shaft.

Every landing was now noisy with servants, maids sped upstairs, flunkeys
sped down, a butler waddled in a circle.

"Is anybody going to get me out of this?" demanded the voice in the