distinguish the stairs and terraces with which the small domain
had been adorned by former owners, and the blackened bushes and dead
trees that had once afforded shelter to the country birds; beyond these
he saw the strong retaining wall, some thirty feet in height, which
enclosed the garden to the back; and again above that, the pile of dingy
buildings rearing its frontage high into the night. A peculiar object
lying stretched upon the lawn for some time baffled his eyesight; but at
length he had made it out to be a long ladder, or series of ladders
bound into one; and he was still wondering of what service so great an
instrument could be in such a scant enclosure, when he was recalled to
himself by the noise of some one running violently down the stairs. This
was followed by the sudden, clamorous banging of the house door; and
that again, by rapid and retreating footsteps in the street.

Challoner sprang into the passage. He ran from room to room, upstairs
and downstairs; and in that old dingy and worm-eaten house, he found
himself alone. Only in one apartment looking to the front were there any
traces of the late inhabitant: a bed that had been recently slept in and
not made, a chest of drawers disordered by a hasty search and on the
floor a roll of crumpled paper. This he picked up. The light in this
upper story looking to the front was considerably brighter than in the
parlour; and he was able to make out that the paper bore the mark of the
hotel at Euston, and even, by peering closely, to decipher the following
lines in a very elegant and careful female hand:

"DEAR M'GUIRE,--It is certain your retreat is known. We have just had
another failure, clockwork thirty hours too soon, with the usual
humiliating result. Zero is quite disheartened. We are all scattered,
and I could find no one but the _solemn ass_ who brings you this and
the money. I would love to see your meeting.--Ever yours,

"SHINING EYE."

Challoner was stricken to the heart. He perceived by what facility, by
what unmanly fear of ridicule, he had been brought down to be the gull
of this intriguer; and his wrath flowed forth in almost equal measure
against himself, against the woman, and against Somerset, whose idle
counsels had impelled him to embark on that adventure. At the same time
a great and troubled curiosity, and a certain chill of fear, possessed
his spirits. The conduct of the man with the chin-beard, the terms of
the