e house under cover of the laurels. It was now getting very
dusk, but he could manage to track them till they had reached some
outhouses, along the wall of which they crawled, crouching down. And
now they had arrived at the rear of the house, and stood in shadow
opposite a back passage window. Randolph crept silently up and squeezed
himself behind a huge water-butt, where he was perfectly concealed, and
could overhear part of the conversation now hurriedly held between the
two burglars, if such they were.

"You're sure the man does not sleep in the house?" asked the elder man.

"Sure," replied the second, in a husky whisper. John Randolph felt
pretty certain that he knew the voice, but he hardly dared think it.

"Where's the plate chest?"

"Don't know: most likely in the pantry."

John was now confident that he knew the speaker.

"Hush!" whispered the elder man, fiercely, "this passage window 'll do:
it won't take much to prise it open: you'll look after the women."

"Trust _me_ for that," muttered the other; and Randolph thought he heard
a click, as of the cocking of a pistol.

"Hush, you fool!" growled the older burglar, with an oath: then there
was a few moments' silence, and the two crept back. They sat down under
the shelter of some large shrubs, with their backs to John, who could
only just make them out from his hiding-place, for it was now getting
quite dark. A little while, and they rose, and passed very near their
unsuspected watcher, who could just catch the words "Two o'clock," as
they made their way back to the fence. A few moments more, and they
were clear of the grounds.

John Randolph's mind was made up in a moment what to do. Having
cautiously followed the two men into the road, and ascertained that they
were not lurking anywhere about "The Shrubbery," he hurried off at once
to Hopeworth, and communicated what he had seen and heard to the police.
He was very anxious that no unnecessary alarm should be given to Mrs
Franklin or Mary, and that they should be kept, if possible, in
ignorance of the whole matter till the danger was over; so he resolved
to accompany the constables, who, with the superintendent, were
preparing to encounter the housebreakers. It was presumed, from what he
had overheard, that an attempt was to be made on "The Shrubbery" that
very night, and that the two men seen by John Randolph were only part of
a larger gang. Help was therefore procured, and about one o'clock