He stood there, trying to force his brain to consider and decide the instant problem, whether to call to Mrs. Jordan. He was completely confused. If he called to her, that settled it, that was easy; but if he did not call to her, how was he to know whether she had heard him come in, or seen him? She was still moving around in the basement hall below, three steps in one direction, then a pause, then four in another direction; he felt intensely irritated with her and wished to god she’d quit fooling around and go back into her room.
He stood there without moving a muscle, still less than halfway up the first flight, and all at once he heard a voice from a great distance calling to him, well, aren’t you coming up?