t was about nine
o'clock; night had fallen: house and garden were wrapped in a mantle of
darkness.

"Can you find your way?" asked Madame Bourrat. If she accompanied the
journalist to her garden gate she would have to grope back to the house
in the dark, and alone! Her nerves were shaken by recent events. She did
not wish to venture forth and back in the mysterious gloom of night,
even on the familiar path of her garden. What might that darkness not
hide! What robbers, what murderers might there not be lurking near!

Fandor laughed.

"Why, of course I can, madame! To find the points of the compass, to
cultivate the sense of locality, is part of a journalist's profession."

"Do not forget to draw to behind you--it needs a strong pull--the gate
which separates us from the street: once shut, no one can open it from
outside."

Fandor, shaking hands with the boarding-house keeper, promised to close
the gate. As the sound of his steps on the gravel grew less and less, as
the gate fell to with a loud noise, and an absolute silence followed,
Madame Bourrat felt sure that her guest had left the garden--had gone
away.

But he had done nothing of the sort!

Fandor had shut the gate noiselessly, but he had remained inside the
grounds. He stood motionless, holding his breath, wishing neither to be
seen nor heard. He remained so for a long twenty minutes. Then, being
assured that Madame Bourrat had retired for the night--she had closed
her shutters and put out her light--he rubbed his hands, murmuring:

"Now we shall see!"

Stepping gingerly along by the side of the wall, he reached the main
building of the boarding-house: luckily, it was empty as far as boarders
were concerned. He recognised Elizabeth Dollon's window on the first
floor and was glad to see that it was half open. Chance favoured
him--there was even a gutter pipe running down the wall and passing
close to the window. Providence had favoured him with a fine staircase;
there would not be much difficulty in climbing that!

No sooner thought than done! Accustomed as he was to exercise and games,
Fandor, agile as a young man in good training can be, squirmed up the
pipe as far as Elizabeth's window. He caught hold of the sill, recovered
his balance, jerked himself up, and, two seconds after, had landed in
the room.

Dared he strike a light! He remembered pretty accurately the position of
the various pieces of furniture, but he would like to study the room
mor