her end of the passage; heard him return, growling,
and saw him for a moment in the dim light of the entrance as he left the
place. Then, swiftly issuing from their retreat, they followed.

"I say, Bloater," whispered Little Jim, "ee's got such an ugly mug that
I do b'lieve ee's up to some game or other."

"P'raps 'ee is," returned the Bloater, meditatively; "we'll let 'im
alone an' foller 'im up."

The prolonged season of peace that followed, induced Mr Sparks to
believe that his tormentors had left him, he therefore dismissed them
from his mind, and gave himself entirely to business. Arrived at Conway
street, he found that it was one of those semi-genteel streets in the
immediate neighbourhood of Kensington Gardens, wherein dwell thriving
tradespeople who know themselves to be rising in the world, and
unfortunate members of the "upper ten," who know that they have come
down in the world, but have not ceased the struggle to keep up
appearances. It was a quiet, unfrequented street, in which the hum of
the surrounding city sounded like the roar of a distant cataract. Here
Mr Sparks checked his pace--stopped--and looked about him with evident
caution.

"Ho, ho!" whispered Little Jim.

"We've tracked 'im down," replied the Bloater with a chuckle.

Mr Sparks soon found Number 6. On the door a brass plate revealed
"Mrs Middleton."

"Ha! she _must_ have it, must she, an' _won't_ take no denial," muttered
the man between his teeth.

Mr Sparks observed that one of the lower windows was open, which was
not to be wondered at, for the weather was rather warm at the time. He
also observed that the curtains of the window were made of white
flowered muslin, and that they swayed gently in the wind, not far from a
couple of candles which stood on a small table. There was no one in the
room at the time.

"Strange," muttered Mr Sparks, with a grim smile, "that people _will_
leave lights so near muslin curtains!"

Most ordinary people would have thought the candles in question at a
sufficiently safe distance from the curtains, but Mr Sparks apparently
thought otherwise. He entertained peculiar views about the danger of
fire.

From the position which the two boys occupied they could not see the man
while he was thus engaged in examining and commenting on Number 6,
Conway Street, but they saw him quite well when he crossed the street,
(which had only one side to it, a wall occupying the other), and they
saw him still