, and the men awakened and ran down from the garret. Then, overhead,
across the lobby I heard my Cousin Tom's footsteps, and I nearly laughed
to myself at the thought of the part that he must play, and of how ill
he would play it. And all the while the beating on the doors went on;
and I heard voices through the lath and plaster from the back-hall; and
then the sound of unbolting, and the knocking ceased on that side,
though it still went on upon the, other.

My hiding-hole, as I have said, was in the very centre of the house; one
side faced upon the back-hall; and the opposite down the front passage;
and, of the other two, one upon the stairs and one upon the kitchen
passage, and these two had the doors in them. Above me was the lobby;
and beneath me, first the little way into the back-hall, and beneath
that the cellars. It was strange how prominent the place was, and yet
how well concealed. One might live ten years in the house without
suspecting its presence.

Presently the whole house was full of talking; and the front door was
opened; and I heard a gentleman's voice speaking. He was Mr. Harris, I
learned afterwards, a Justice of the Peace from Puckeridge, whom
Dangerfield had brought with him.

Much of what was said I could not hear; but I heard enough to understand
why I was being looked for, and what would be the charges against me.
Now the voices came muffled; and now clear; so that I would hear half a
sentence and no more, as the speaker moved on.

"I tell you he left for Rome to-night," I heard my Cousin Tom say (which
was an adroit lie indeed, as no one could tell whether I had or no),
"and he hath taken his man with him."

"That is very well--" began the gentleman's voice; and then no more.

Presently I heard one of the men of the house, named Dick--a good friend
of mine, ask what they were after me for; and some fellow, as he went
by, answered:

"--Consorting with the Jesuits, and conspiring--" and no more.

So, then, I lay and listened. Much that I heard had no relevance at all,
for it was the protesting of maids and such-like. The footsteps went
continually up and down; sometimes voices rose in anger; sometimes it
was only a whisper that went by. I heard presses open and shut; and once
or twice the noise of hammering overhead; and then silence again; but no
silence was for long.

Here again I find it very hard to say all that I felt during that
search. My thoughts came and went like pictures upo