One, two, three--and up! Three, two, one--and down! One, two,
three--twit-twit-twit-tweet!" The birds burst into their usual ecstasy
of singing, and the Count chirruped and whistled at them in return, as
if he was a bird himself. My room door is open, and I can hear the
shrill singing and whistling at this very moment. If I am really to
slip out without being observed, now is my time.

FOUR O'CLOCK. The three hours that have passed since I made my last
entry have turned the whole march of events at Blackwater Park in a new
direction. Whether for good or for evil, I cannot and dare not decide.

Let me get back first to the place at which I left off, or I shall lose
myself in the confusion of my own thoughts.

I went out, as I had proposed, to meet the messenger with my letter
from London at the lodge gate. On the stairs I saw no one. In the hall
I heard the Count still exercising his birds. But on crossing the
quadrangle outside, I passed Madame Fosco, walking by herself in her
favourite circle, round and round the great fish-pond. I at once
slackened my pace, so as to avoid all appearance of being in a hurry,
and even went the length, for caution's sake, of inquiring if she
thought of going out before lunch. She smiled at me in the friendliest
manner--said she preferred remaining near the house, nodded pleasantly,
and re-entered the hall. I looked back, and saw that she had closed
the door before I had opened the wicket by the side of the carriage
gates.

In less than a quarter of an hour I reached the lodge.

The lane outside took a sudden turn to the left, ran on straight for a
hundred yards or so, and then took another sharp turn to the right to
join the high-road. Between these two turns, hidden from the lodge on
one side, and from the way to the station on the other, I waited,
walking backwards and forwards. High hedges were on either side of me,
and for twenty minutes, by my watch, I neither saw nor heard anything.
At the end of that time the sound of a carriage caught my ear, and I
was met, as I advanced towards the second turning, by a fly from the
railway. I made a sign to the driver to stop. As he obeyed me a
respectable-looking man put his head out of the window to see what was
the matter.

"I beg your pardon," I said, "but am I right in supposing that you are
going to Blackwater Park?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"With a letter for any one?"

"With a letter for Miss Halcombe, ma'am."

"You