ok ill enough;' was the blunt reply.

'Well, then, what do you want?' demanded Jones, in a peevish tone; 'why do
you trouble me? I can't bear it. Go away; go away.'

'I will, when you've answered my question. Where's Craig?'

'I don't know. He was here last night; but he went out, and hasn't been
here since.'

'Where did he go?'

Jones shook his head: 'He didn't say.'

'Was he alone?'

'No,' replied the other, evidently wincing under these questions; 'No;
there was a man with him, nigh about my size. He went with him. That's all
I know about either of them. There, there; get through with your
questions. They turn my head,' said he, in an irritable tone.

'Why did he take a stranger?' demanded Grosket, without paying the least
attention to his manner. 'You forget that I know you and he generally hunt
in couples.'

It might have been the cold of the room striking through to his very bones
that had so powerful an effect on Jones, but he shook from head to foot,
as he answered:

'Look at me! God! would you have a man out in such a night as that was,
when he's almost ready for his winding-sheet?'

Grosket's only reply was to ask another question.

'What was the name of the man who went with him?'

'I don't know.'

'What did they go to do?'

Jones hesitated, as if in doubt what answer to make, and then, as if
adopting an open course, he said: 'I've know'd you a good while, Mr.
Grosket, and you won't blab, if I tell you what I suspect, will ye? It's
only guess-work, after all. Promise me that; I know your word is good.'

Grosket paused a moment before he made the promise; and then said: 'Well,
I'll keep what you tell me to myself. Now then.'

'It was a house-breaking business,' said Jones, sinking his voice. 'They
took pistols with them; and I heard Tim tell the other one to take the
crow-bar and the glim. That's all I know. I was too much down to listen.
There; go away now. I've talked till my head is almost split. Talking
drives me mad. Go away.'

Grosket stood perfectly still in deep thought. The story might be true;
for the city was ringing with the news of the burglary, and of the death
of one of the burglars by the hands of his comrade. It was rumored too,
that the dead man had been identified by some of the officers of the
police, and that his name was Craig. It was this, taken in connection with
the facts that the attempt had been made on Harson's house; that an effort
had been made to carry off