o more than just begun to apologize for his lateness when the
boy was on him like a pouncing cat and was cutting into his low-spoken
words in a panting sort of whisper:

"For Gawd's sake, gov'ner. Come quick, sir!" he said, as he laid a
tense, nervous grip on Cleek's arm. "'Nother door in the wall, sir.
Higher up where them mulberry trees is thickest. Woman prowlin' round,
gov'ner. Been prowlin' round this ten minutes past and been to that door
and tried it three times a'ready. Woman in a pink dress, sir, and a long
dark cloak reachin' almost to the ground!"

"Margot!" said Cleek in an exultant whisper. "Margot at last, by
George!"

Then, for the second time that night, he received a shock.

"If you mean that French Aparsh 'skirt' we run up against in the time of
the Red Crawl, gov'ner," interposed Dollops, "you're backin' the wrong
horse. It aren't _her_--aren't a bit like her, sir; no fear!"

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THE LADY AT THE GATE

Cleek was conscious of a sense of keen disappointment at this piece of
intelligence, it so completely upset all his calculation. Hitherto, the
bits of the puzzle had fitted nicely and bade fair to make a smooth and
flawless whole.

"Are you sure?" he whispered, laying a tense hand upon Dollops's arm.
"Don't jump to a conclusion without positive evidence. Are you _sure_?"

"Rath-_er_! Of course it's too dark to see her face, gov'ner; but when
she come to the gate the first time--she's been several, sir--it was a
deal lighter on account of the moon not bein' hid so much with them
blessed clouds, sir; and I could see then that she was wot you might
call a high-stepper--summink classy and up in the nines, gov'ner, and
had a way with her that you don't pick up if you aren't born to it. She
couldn't have been putting it on for effect, 'cause she didn't know
there was anybody there to see. Gone she is now, sir; slipped off over
the Common, and I lost sight of her among all them furze bushes, but
she'll come back, never fear. She's went away like that two or three
times before, but always come back and tried the door, and jist struck
her hands together and rocked back and forwards like she was half
beside herself when she found it locked and nobody there to meet her."

"And you didn't succeed in seeing her face at all?"

"No, sir. It never was light enough for me to do that. But even if it
had been, it wouldn't 'a' been no use, sir. She had summick that looked
like a white