t.

Even seen in the light of the infrequent lamps and the rays from thinly
blinded windows, it was evidently but a small country town of a hard,
grey stone, northern type. The ends of certain lanes seemed to open into
the empty country itself, and one could hear the regular cadence of
waves hard by upon a shore.

"It doesn't seem to have changed much," said the man to himself.

He worked his way round, like one quite familiar with the route he
followed, till at length he drew near the same quiet country road whence
he had started. This time he stopped for a few minutes in the thickest
shadow and scanned each dim circle of radiance ahead. Nobody seemed now
to be within the rays of the lamps or to be moving in the darkness
between. He went on warily till he had come nearly to the same open gate
where he had paused before, and then there fell upon his ears the sound
of steps behind him and he stopped again and looked sharply over his
shoulder.

Somebody was following, but at a little distance off, and after
hesitating for an instant, he seemed to make up his mind to risk it, and
turned swiftly and stealthily through the gates. A short drive of some
pretentions ran between trees and then curved round towards the house,
but there was no lodge or any sign of a possible watcher, and the man
advanced for a few yards swiftly and confidently enough. And then he
stopped abruptly. Under the shade of the trees the drive ahead was pitch
dark, but footsteps and voices were certainly coming from the house. In
an instant he had vanished into the belt of plantation along one side of
the drive.

The footsteps and voices ceased, and then the steps began again, timidly
at first and then hurriedly. The belt of shrubs and trees was just thick
enough to hide a man perfectly on a moonless cloudy night like this. Yet
on either side the watcher could see enough of what was beyond to note
that he stood between the dark drive on one hand and a lighter space of
open garden on the other, and he could even catch a glimpse of the
house against the sky. Light shone brightly from the fanlight over the
front door, and less distinctly from one window upstairs and through the
slats of a blind in a downstairs room. For a moment he looked in that
direction and then intently watched the drive.

The footsteps by this time were almost on the run. The vague forms of
two women passed swiftly and he could see their faces dimly turned
towards him as they hur