here was a foot on the ladder, and Jabez, the boy, stepped up, a candle
in his hand. He had been waiting for the landlady, when he heard voices
overhead.

"The varra man!" shouted Gubblum. "Didsta see owt of thy master
down-stairs?"

Jabez grinned, and glanced up at Paul Ritson.

"Hark ye, laal man, didsta see two men leaving the house a matter of
fifteen minutes ago?"

"Belike I did," said Jabez. "And to be sure it were the gentleman that
come here afore--and another one."

"Another one--your master, you mean?"

Jabez grinned from ear to ear.

"Didsta hear owt?"

"I heard the gentleman say they had to be at St. Pancras at midnight."

Paul fumbled at his breast for his watch. It was gone.

"What's o'clock?" he asked.

"Fifteen after eleven, master," said Jabez. "I've just bolted up."

Paul's face was full of resolution.

"I'll follow," he said; "I've lost time enough already."

"What, man! you'll never manish it--and you as weak as watter forby.
You'll be falling swat in the road like a wet sack."

Paul had pulled the door open. Excitement lent him strength. The next
moment he was gone.

"Where's the master off to? St. Pancras?" asked Jabez.

"Fadge-te-fadge, gang out of my gate! Away, and lig down your daft head
in bed!" said Gubblum.

Jabez did not act on the peddler's advice. He returned to the bar to
await the return of Mrs. Drayton, whose unaccustomed absence gave rise
to many sapient conjectures in the boy's lachrymose noddle. He found
the door to the road open, and from this circumstance his swift
intelligence drew the conclusion that his master had already gone. His
hand was on the door to close and bolt it, when he heard rapid footsteps
approaching. In an instant two men pushed past him and into the house.

"Where's Mr. Drayton," said one, panting from his run.

"He's this minute gone," said Jabez.

"Is that true, my lad?" the man asked, laying a hand on the boy's
shoulder.

"He's gone to St. Pancras, sir. He's got to be there at midnight," said
Jabez.

The boy had recognized the visitors, and was trembling.

The men glanced into each other's faces.

"That was Drayton--the man that ran past us down the road," said one.

"Make sure of it," said the other. "Search the place; I'll wait for you
here."

In two minutes more the men had left the house together.

* * * * *

A quarter of an hour later the night porter at the Hendon railway
station saw