he part
of some of those present, that it would be an inconvenient precedent to
meddle too curiously with a gentleman's private affairs if he saw reason
to conceal them, warned the fellow who had occasioned this discussion
that he had best pursue it no further. After a short time the strange
man lay down upon a bench to sleep, and when they thought of him again,
they found he was gone.

Next night, as soon as it was dark, he was abroad again and traversing
the streets; he was before the locksmith's house more than once, but
the family were out, and it was close shut. This night he crossed London
Bridge and passed into Southwark. As he glided down a bye street, a
woman with a little basket on her arm, turned into it at the other end.
Directly he observed her, he sought the shelter of an archway, and
stood aside until she had passed. Then he emerged cautiously from his
hiding-place, and followed.

She went into several shops to purchase various kinds of household
necessaries, and round every place at which she stopped he hovered like
her evil spirit; following her when she reappeared. It was nigh eleven
o'clock, and the passengers in the streets were thinning fast, when she
turned, doubtless to go home. The phantom still followed her.

She turned into the same bye street in which he had seen her first,
which, being free from shops, and narrow, was extremely dark. She
quickened her pace here, as though distrustful of being stopped, and
robbed of such trifling property as she carried with her. He crept along
on the other side of the road. Had she been gifted with the speed of
wind, it seemed as if his terrible shadow would have tracked her down.

At length the widow--for she it was--reached her own door, and, panting
for breath, paused to take the key from her basket. In a flush and glow,
with the haste she had made, and the pleasure of being safe at home,
she stooped to draw it out, when, raising her head, she saw him standing
silently beside her: the apparition of a dream.

His hand was on her mouth, but that was needless, for her tongue clove
to its roof, and her power of utterance was gone. 'I have been looking
for you many nights. Is the house empty? Answer me. Is any one inside?'

She could only answer by a rattle in her throat.

'Make me a sign.'

She seemed to indicate that there was no one there. He took the key,
unlocked the door, carried her in, and secured it carefully behind them.

Chapter 17