ld not be a reflection on the glass from outside.

Then he was right; and, panting now as if he had been running heavily,
he went round into the street, reached the front of the house, where, as
he had expected, he could see low down the faintly illumined blind of
the housekeeper's room, and then rang gently.

He waited, and there was no response; and he rang again, but the time
passed again; minutes--more probably moments--elapsed before he heard a
window opened softly overhead.

"What is it?" said a woman's voice.

"Come down and open the door, Berry," said the boy quickly.

"You, Master Frank?"

"Yes; make haste."

"Is--is any one with you?" said the woman in a whisper, "because I don't
like opening the door after dark."

"No, I'm quite alone. Make haste."

The woman did not stop to close the window, and the next minute Frank
heard the bolts drawn softly back, the key turned, and as the door was
being opened he stepped forward, but only to stop short on the step, for
the housekeeper had not removed the chain.

"What is it, my dear?" she said.

She had not brought a light, and Frank could dimly see her face at the
narrow opening.

"What is it?" cried Frank impatiently. "Take down the chain, and let me
in. Don't keep me standing here."

"But her ladyship gave me strict orders, my dear, that I wasn't to admit
any one after dark, for there are so many wicked people about."

"Did my father tell you not to admit me?" whispered Frank, with his face
close to the narrow slit.

"What! before he went abroad, my dear?" faltered the woman.

"No, no--yesterday, to-day--whenever he came back."

"Sir Robert, my dear?" whispered the woman, with her voice trembling.

"Don't be so stupid. I must--I will see him. I saw his face at the
window this afternoon."

"Oh, my dear, my dear!" stammered the woman.

"There, take down the chain, Berry."

"I--I don't think I ought, my dear. Stop a minute, and I'll go and ask
him."

"No, no. Let me go up at once. You'll be quite right in letting me."

The woman uttered a gasp, closed the door, and softly unhooked the
chain, after which she opened the door just sufficiently for the boy to
pass in, and closed and fastened it again.

The hall was dark as could be, save for a faint gleam from the fanlight;
but Frank could have gone blindfold, and dashing over the marble floor
to the foot of the staircase, he bounded up two steps at a time, reached
the door of the bac