this she would have to pass down a long flight of stairs and by two or
three rooms, in any one of which Emil Correlli might be on the watch
in anticipation of this very proceeding.

There was a back stairway; but as this led directly up from the area
hall, the door at the bottom was always carefully kept locked--the key
hanging on a concealed nail for fear of burglars; and Edith, knowing
this, did not once think of attempting to go out that way.

While she sat by the window, trying to think of some way out of her
difficulties, her attention was attracted by the peculiar movements of
a woman on the opposite side of the street--it was the side street
leading through to Beacon.

She was of medium height, richly clad in a long seal garment, but
heavily veiled, and she was leading a little child, of two or three
years, by the hand.

But for her strange behavior, Edith would have simply thought her to
be some young mother, who was giving her little one an airing on that
pleasant winter afternoon. She appeared very anxious to shun
observation, dropping her head whenever any one passed her, and
sometimes turning abruptly around to avoid the gaze of the curious.

She never entirely passed the house, but walked back and forth again
and again from the corner to a point opposite the area door near the
rear of the dwelling, while she eagerly scanned every window, as if
seeking for a glimpse of some one whom she knew. Moreover, from time
to time, her eyes appeared to rest curiously upon Edith, whom she
could plainly perceive at her post above.

For nearly half an hour she kept this up; then, suddenly crossing the
street, disappeared within the area entrance to the house, greatly to
the surprise of our fair heroine.

"How very strange!" Edith remarked, in astonishment. "She is certainly
too richly clad to be the friend of any of the servants, and if she
desires to see Mrs. Goddard, why did she not go to the front entrance
and ring?"

While she was pondering the singular incident, she saw the gas-man
emerge from the same door, and pass down the street toward another
house; then her mind reverted again to her own precarious situation,
and she forgot about the intruder and her child below.

The house was very still--there was not even a servant moving about to
disturb the almost uncanny silence that reigned throughout it. It was
Thursday, and Edith knew that the housemaid and cook's assistant were
to have that afternoon out,