nd side,
led by a labyrinth of passages down in the direction of the wharfs to the
west of London Bridge. There were three houses to the left of the
entrance from Newman's Passage; the back of a ware-house faced them on
the other long side with the door beyond; and the other two sides were
respectively formed by the archway of the stable with a loft over it, and
a blank high wall at the opposite end.

A few minutes after four o'clock the figure of a woman suddenly appeared
soundlessly in the arch under the stables; and after standing there a
moment advanced along the front of the houses till she reached the third
door. She stood here a moment in silence, listening and looking towards
the doorway opposite, and then rapped gently with her finger-nail eleven
or twelve times. Almost immediately the door opened, showing only
darkness within; she stepped in, and it closed silently behind her. Then
the minutes slipped away again in undisturbed silence. At about twenty
minutes to five the figure of a very tall man dressed as a layman slipped
in through the door that led towards the river, and advanced to the door
where he tapped in the same manner as the woman before him, and was
admitted at once. After that people began to come more frequently, some
hesitating and looking about them as they entered the court, some
slipping straight through without a pause, and going to the door, which
opened and shut noiselessly as each tapped and was admitted. Sometimes
two or three would come together, sometimes singly; but by five o'clock
about twenty or thirty persons had come and been engulfed by the
blackness that showed each time the door opened; while no glimmer of
light from any of the windows betrayed the presence of any living soul
within. At five o'clock the stream stopped. The little court lay as
silent under the stars again as an hour before. It was a night of
breathless stillness; there was no dripping from the eaves; no sound of
wheels or hoofs from the city; only once or twice came the long howl of a
dog across the roofs.

Ten minutes passed away.

Then without a sound a face appeared like a pale floating patch in the
dark door that opened on to the court. It remained hung like a mask in
the darkness for at least a minute; and then a man stepped through on to
the cobblestones. Something on his head glimmered sharply in the
starlight; and there was the same sparkle at the end of a pole that he
carried in his hand; he turned