dispose of the spoils;
but it was only where the prize was great and the danger small, that he
lent his hand to the work that his brain approved. When Losely proposed
to him the robbery of a lone country-house, in which Jasper, making
light of all perils, brought prominently forward the images of some
thousands of pounds in gold and notes, guarded by an elderly gentleman,
and to be approached with ease through an uninhabited building--Cutts
thought it well worth personal investigation. Nor did he consider
himself bound, by his general engagement to Mrs. Crane, to lose the
chance of a sum so immeasurably greater than he could expect to obtain
from her by revealing the plot and taking measures to frustrate it.
Cutts was a most faithful and intelligent agent when he was properly
paid, and had proved himself so to Mrs. Crane on various occasions. But
then, to be paid properly meant a gain greater in serving than he could
get in not serving. Hitherto it had been extremely lucrative to obey
Mrs. Crane in saving Jasper from crime and danger. In this instance the
lucre seemed all the other way. Accordingly, the next morning, having
filled a saddle-bag with sundry necessaries, such as files, picklocks,
masks--to which he added a choice selection of political tracts and
newspapers--he and Jasper set out on two hired but strong and fleet
hackneys to the neighbourhood of Fawley. They put up at a town on the
other side of the Manor-house from that by which Jasper had approached
it, and at about the same distance. After baiting their steeds, they
proceeded to Fawley by the silent guide of a finger-post, gained the
vicinity of the park, and Cutts, dismounting, flitted across the turf,
and plunged himself into the hollows of the unfinished mansion while
Jasper took charge of the horses in a corner of the wooded lane.
Cutts, pleased by the survey of the forlorn interior, ventured, in the
stillness that reigned around, to mount the ladder, to apply a picklock
to the door above, and, opening this with ease, crept into the long
gallery, its walls covered with pictures. Through the crevices in
another door at the extreme end gleamed a faint light. Cutts applied his
eye to the chinks and keyhole, and saw that the light came from a room
on the other side the narrow passage which connected the new house with
the old. The door of that room was open, candles were on the table, and
beside the table Cutts could distinguish the outline of a man' s fo