stranger must be on the other side of the house, he began to retrace his
steps, when his ear was saluted by a faint rustle, as of a body passing
amongst dry twigs.

Cautiously making his way in the required direction, Brace crept over
the grass for perhaps twenty yards, and then he stopped, listening
eagerly, but only to hear the loud, laboured beating of his own heart.

It must have been something more than a simple desire to satisfy his
curiosity, or to gaze up at some window which he might imagine was that
of Isa Gernon. Had he been asked, he would have owned to a strange
feeling of attraction, drawing him on and on to what proved the most
exciting adventure of his life. He knew, though, that he ran great
risks, and that, if seen, his visit was sure to be misinterpreted; but
another minute had hardly elapsed ere, like his sire in bygone days, he
could only yield to the intense desire of affording help where he
believed others were in peril.

For suddenly, from a corner of the house, where a dense mass of
evergreens made more black the shade, came a strange, low, grating
noise--a sound that he had never before heard, but which he attributed
to the right cause upon the instant; and then, going down upon hands and
knees, he tried to govern into regularity his laboured, panting
breathing, as he crept cautiously towards the spot from whence the sound
had arisen.

Book 2, Chapter XXII.

"THAT'S IT AT LAST."

Brace Norton's heart told him truly: the noise was the grating of a
diamond over glass, and it was repeated four times. Then there was a
pause, ere at the end of a few minutes came a dull, snapping noise, and
one faint tinkle as of falling glass upon the ledge of a window.

He stopped, listening attentively, for he seemed by instinct to know
what would follow; he almost seemed to pierce the black darkness ahead,
and to see an arm passed through a cut-out pane of glass--a fastening
thrust back. Yes, there was the dull snap, and now the raising of the
sash. No, it could be no sash, for there was a dull creaking as of the
rusty hinges of an old iron lattice casement. Then came a soft
rustling. Yes, that was the stranger drawing himself up, and passing
through the window.

Would he fasten it after him?

No; it was evidently left open, and all was still. It must be some one
who knew the place. What should he do? try and alarm the house? No; he
did not fear one man. There was some mystery here; and at t