One day, as she sat in her room embroidering, she noticed that the people talking in the room below had dropped their voices. Usually they cared very little who heard them. Her heart leaped in her bosom. "I must hear what they say," she murmured. She ran to the top of the staircase; and holding fast to the railing, glided to the lowest step as lightly as air, and succeeded in catching a few disjointed sentences. "Yes, that beach is unfrequented." "We will enter the inn by the door which opens from the sea." "And we will leave on the street side in small groups." "The soldiers must be disguised as mechanics." "Of course; but they will keep their weapons under their cloaks." "The city is already greatly agitated; we will proceed to the fortress in a body, and summon the Shogun to abdicate." "If he refuses, we will enter the palace and take possession of him." Omiti shivered with horror. "I must get away from here," she muttered; "I must give the alarm." The conspirators continued: "We must hasten; to-morrow, at nightfall, the soldiers may land." "Directly after, a cargo of wheat and rice will arrive." Omiti went back to her room. She had heard enough; her resolve was taken. A sort of mystical ardor filled her soul. "My mission in this world is to save him, to hold him back on the edge of the precipice," she thought with exaltation. "This is the second time that I have discovered a guilty secret,--a plot against the man whom I loved before I ever knew him. The will of Heaven is displayed in this. Once more I will point out his peril to him; my feeble hand shall stay the execution of the crime." She considered the means she might employ to escape from the house. Two other young women shared her chamber at night. She could not trust them; they did not like her, and were devoted to their master. Upon the ground-floor all the doors were closed on the inside by heavy bars; besides, the men servants, who had charge of the cellar department, slept down stairs. Therefore it was useless to think of escape in that direction. There remained the window; it was somewhat high above the ground, but that was not what troubled Omiti. How could she open the window without rousing the other women If she succeeded in doing it without a noise, the cold air blowing into the room would wake them. Omiti thought of the window that opened on the staircase landing. But the one in her room looked upon the street, while the other opened into the garden; and once in the garden, she still had the fence to climb. "No matter," thought Omiti; "I'll get out of the window on the stairs."