hope we shall not be too late."

But at this moment a winding of the path brought another face of the Hall
into view.

"Why, Dickon," exclaimed Desmond, "there's another light; 'tis the
squire's own room. He cannot be in two places at once; 'tis odd at this
time of night. Come, stir your stumps, old man."

They hurried along, scrambling through the hedge that bounded the field,
Desmond leaping, Dickon wading the brook that ran alongside the road.
Turning to the left, they came to the front entrance to the Hall, and
passed through the wicket gate into the grounds. They could see the
squire's shadow on the blind of the parlor; but the lighted window of the
strong room was now hidden from them.

Stepping in that direction, to satisfy a strange curiosity he felt,
Desmond halted in amazement as he saw, faintly silhouetted against the
sky, a ladder placed against the wall, resting on the sill of the strong
room. His surprise at seeing lights in two rooms, in different wings of
the house, so late at night, changed to misgiving and suspicion. He
hastened back to Dickon.

"I fear some mischief is afoot," he said. Drawing the old man into the
shade of the shrubbery, he added: "Remain here; do not stir until I come
for you, or unless you hear me call."

Leaving Dickon in trembling perplexity and alarm, he stole forward on
tiptoe towards the house.

Chapter 5: In which Job Grinsell explains; and three visitors come by night
to the Four Alls.

At the foot of the wall lay a flower bed, now bare and black, separated
by a gravel path from a low shrubbery of laurel. Behind this latter
Desmond stole, screened from observation by the bushes. Coming to a spot
exactly opposite the ladder, he saw that it rested on the sill of the
library window, which was open. The library itself was dark, but there
was still a dull glow in the next room. At the foot of the ladder stood a
man.

The meaning of it all was plain. The large sum of money recently received
by Sir Willoughby as rents had tempted someone to rob him. The robber
must have learned that the money was kept in the strong room; and it
argued either considerable daring or great ignorance to have timed his
visit for an hour when anyone familiar with the squire's habits would
have known that he would not yet have retired to rest.

Desmond was about to run round to the other side of the house and rouse
the squire, when the dim light in the strong room was suddenly
exti