bedchamber the doctor asked a
little anxiously if that was the room. No; there were three more stairs
to go down, and a corner to turn, before they could reach it. The first
room was Natalie's. She instantly offered it for her father's use. The
doctor (seeing that it was the airiest as well as the nearest room)
accepted the proposal. Sir Joseph had been laid comfortably in his
daughter's bed; the doctor had just left them, with renewed assurances
that they need feel no anxiety, when they heard a heavy step below
stairs. Turlington had re-entered the house.

(He had been looking, as they had supposed, for the ruffian who had
attacked Sir Joseph; with a motive, however, for the search at which it
was impossible for other persons to guess. His own safety was now bound
up in the safety of Thomas Wildfang. As soon as he was out of sight in
the darkness, he made straight for the malt-house. The change of clothes
was there untouched; not a trace of his accomplice was to be seen.
Where else to look for him it was impossible to tell. Turlington had no
alternative but to go back to the house, and ascertain if suspicion had
been aroused in his absence.)

He had only to ascend the stairs, and to see, through the open door,
that Sir Joseph had been placed in his daughter's room.

"What does this mean?" he asked, roughly.

Before it was possible to answer him the footman appeared with a
message. The doctor had come back to the door to say that he would take
on himself the necessary duty of informing the constable of what had
happened, on his return to the village. Turlington started and changed
color. If Wildfang was found by others, and questioned in his employer's
absence, serious consequences might follow. "The constable is my
business," said Turlington, hurriedly descending the stairs; "I'll go
with the doctor." They heard him open the door below, then close it
again (as if some sudden thought had struck him), and call to the
footman. The house was badly provided with servants' bedrooms. The
women-servants only slept indoors. The footman occupied a room over the
stables. Natalie and her aunt heard Turlington dismiss the man for the
night, an hour earlier than usual at least. His next proceeding was
stranger still. Looking cautiously over the stairs, Natalie saw him lock
all the doors on the ground-floor and take out the keys. When he went
away, she heard him lock the front door behind him. Incredible as it
seemed, there could