news as would gain instant
admission."

"Trust me," said I, as I went up the steps.

It was so dark between the hedge-rows that my ascent became mere
groping. I had a lantern in my pocket which I had taken from Jupp, but I
did not choose to make use of it. I preferred to go on and up, trusting
to my instinct to tell me when I had reached a fresh flight of steps.

A gleam of light from Mrs. Carew's upper windows was the first
intimation I received that I was at the top of the bank, and in another
moment I was opposite the gap in the hedge opening upon her grounds.

For no particular reason that I know of, I here paused and took a long
survey of what was, after all, nothing but a cluster of shadows broken
here and there by squares of subdued light I felt a vague desire to
enter--to see and talk again with the charming woman whose personality
had made such an impression upon me, if only to understand the peculiar
feelings which those indistinguishable walls awakened, and why such a
sense of anticipation should disturb my admiration of this woman and the
delight which I had experienced in every accent of her trained and
exquisite voice.

I was standing very still and in almost total darkness. The shock,
therefore, was great when, in finally making up my mind to move, I
became conscious of a presence near me, totally indiscernible and as
silent as myself.

Whose?

No watchman, or he would have spoken at the rustle I made stumbling back
against the hedge-row. Some marauder, then, or a detective, like myself?
I would not waste time in speculating; better to decide the question at
once, for the situation was eery, the person, whoever he was, stood so
near and so still, and so directly in the way of my advance.

Drawing the lantern from my pocket, I pushed open the slide and flashed
the light on the immovable figure before me. The face I beheld staring
into mine was one quite unknown to me, but as I took in its expression,
my arm gradually fell, and with it the light from the man's features,
till face and form were lost again in the darkness, leaving in my
disturbed mind naught but an impression; but such an impression!

The countenance thus flashed upon my vision must have been a haunting
one at any time, but seen as I saw it, at a moment of extreme
self-abandonment, the effect was startling. Yet I had sufficient control
over myself to utter a word or two of apology, which was not answered,
if it was even heard.

A