importance that Mrs. Winter walked along
the pavement, closely followed by Madge. The friendly old woman always
took a great interest in her neighbours' affairs, and she thoroughly
enjoyed seeing the recovery of the lost money with her own eyes. When,
after about a dozen steps, the front-door of the adjoining house was
reached, Mrs. Winter smiled with conscious pride as she put the key
into the key-hole. It was a critical moment. If the children ever
recovered their lost money it would be entirely owing to her exertions.
Not many elderly women in Churchbury that afternoon were playing such
an exciting part.

The street in which Mrs. Winter lived was an old one, and consequently
built without any regularity. It thus happened that next to Mrs.
Winter's tiny shop stood a substantial family dwelling-house, whose
cellars, as it has been said, took up rather more room on the pavement
than seemed rightly to belong to them. Since the death of the last
occupant some time before, the house had stood empty; only the
caretaker visited it occasionally to air the rooms.

When Mrs. Winter pushed the heavy, creaking front-door open Madge
followed her into a roomy hall, out of which a handsome staircase led
to the upper part of the house. It was all very dignified and dreary.
When the door was shut the noise echoed all over the house. It was not
a very cheerful sound, especially heard in the sombre twilight caused
by windows with the blinds all drawn down.

"We shall want a light for the cellar," observed Mrs. Winter. "The man
said I should find all that was required on the window-sill in the
hall--and here it is too!" she continued joyfully, holding up as she
spoke a box of matches and a short candle stuck in a bottle.

Madge was exceedingly interested in this simple form of candlestick,
and asked permission to carry it, in spite of the grease trickling down
the bottle on to her fingers at every draught, as soon as the candle
was lighted.

"It's a fine house. I've been over it many a time in old Doctor
Freeman's day," said Mrs. Winter thoughtfully. "But it isn't much to
see now since the sale, with all the furniture gone out of the rooms
and the carpets up. Besides, we have not the time to lose going over
it, or the lady will get tired of waiting for you."

Madge always liked investigating unknown places and things, but still
she could not deny that Miss Thompson was awaiting her return rather
anxiously. And when Mr