Jasper
once more reached the moss-grown pales round the demesnes of the old
Manor-house. In a few minutes he was standing under the black shadow
of the buttresses to the unfinished pile. His object was not, then,
to assault, but to reconnoitre. He prowled round the irregular
walls, guided in his survey, now and then, faintly by the
stars--more constantly and clearly by the lights from the contiguous
Manor-house--especially the light from that high chamber in the gable,
close by which ran the thin framework of wood which linked the two
buildings of stone, just as any frail scheme links together the Past
which man has not enjoyed, with the Future he will not complete. Jasper
came to a large bay unglazed window, its sill but a few feet from the
ground, from which the boards, nailed across the mullions, had been
removed by the workmen whom Darrell had employed on the interior,
and were replaced but by a loose tarpaulin. Pulling aside this slight
obstacle, Jasper had no difficulty in entering through the wide mullions
into the dreary edifice. Finding himself in profound darkness, he had
recourse to a lucifer-box which he had about him, and the waste of a
dozen matches sufficed him to examine the ground. He was in a space
intended by the architect for the principal staircase; a tall ladder,
used by the recent workmen, was still left standing against the wall,
the top of it resting on a landing-place opposite a doorway, that, from
the richness of its half-finished architrave, obviously led to what
had been designed for the state apartments; between the pediments was
a slight temporary door of rough deal planks. Satisfied with his
reconnoitre, Losely quitted the skeleton pile, and retraced his steps
to the inn he had left. His musings by the way suggested to him the
expediency, nay, the necessity, of an accomplice. Implements might
be needed--disguises would be required--swift horses for flight to be
hired--and, should the robbery succeed, the bulk of the spoil would be
no doubt in bank-notes, which it would need some other hand than his own
to dispose of, either at the bank next morning at the earliest hour,
or by transmission abroad. For help in all this Jasper knew no one to
compare to Cutts; nor did he suspect his old ally of any share in the
conspiracy against him, of which he had been warned by Mrs. Crane.
Resolving, therefore, to admit that long-tried friend into his
confidence, and a share of the spoils, he quickened his