a woman's weakness? " Then I must leave
you. It's Johnson's money they no doubt want.
They wouldn't murder if they could help it, and
Johnson will be back directly."

"Yes, yes. Go," I said, understanding that
he wanted to fetch help before the farmer came.
"I will hide somewhere."

"In the kennel there," he said, looking round
quickly; " and don't stir."

He pushed me into poor murdered Jip's
kennel, and then he disappeared, and I was left
alone in the gathering darkness with those two
prostrate forms on the kitchen floor as my
company, and perhaps the murderers close at hand.

I combated the faint feeling which Charlie
could not understand by pinching my arms and
sticking pins into them, and after a little
judicious torture of this sort, the sick feeling went
off, and I could think again. "I will take off
my boots," I thought, after a moment. " They
make such a noise, and I may have to move,"
for already a glimmering plan had rushed across
my brain of how I might warn Johnson. So I
rose a little from my crouching position,
unlaced them, and slipped them off. I had barely
done this, when I heard the sound of voices,
and the sick trembling feeling came on so
strongly, that the pin torture had to be again
applied. In another minute three men came
out of the back door, and I could distinctly
hear every word of their conversation.

"He's late, I think," said one. "If he
doesn't come soon, we must go; that girl 'll be
home soon. I heard the old woman tell her
not to stop."

"What's it signify?" said another. " We
can soon stop her mouth."

"It isn't worth so much blood, Dick," said
the third. "We've only got fifty pound by
this, and the farmer 'll not have more."

"He ought to be coming by now," said the
first, anxiously, coming a step or two nearer the
kennel. " Hallo! What's that?"

The tone made me turn sick again. Had
Charlie found help already? No. The three
men were standing close to the kennel, and
during the moment's silence that, followed the
man's exclamation, I remembered that I had
dropped my muff. I tried to stop the hard quick
thumping of my heart, which I felt certain they
must hear, and then, as if fascinated, I raised
my head from my knees for till that moment
I had been crouching at the furthest end of the
kennel and saw a hairy fierce-looking face glaring
in at the entrance of my hiding-place. I tried
hard not to scream, and I succeeded; but in
another moment I should have fainted if the face
had not been taken away. To my utter amazement,
as the face disappeared, its owner said:

"I thought some one might be hiding. That's
a lady's trumpery. What can it mean?"

Evidently I had not been seen, thanks to my
dark dress and the gathering twilight. I
breathed freely now; unless something very
unforeseen occurred, I was safe.

"Some one has been, and has dropped it," a
voice said quickly. " That's all on account of
your cursed foolery, Dick," it went on angrily.

"Why couldn't you stop at the door, as I told
you?"

"Well, let's do something now," the third
said, anxiously, " or we shall be having some
one here."

The three men then went back into the house
again, and I could hear them speaking in low
tones; presently the voices grew louder, and they
were evidently quarrelling. In another minute
they came out again, and from what I could
hear, they began to search in the farm-buildings
and outhouses for the owner of the muff.

"There's no one here," at last one called
out. " They must have gone away again. Go
to the gate, Bill, and see if anybody is coming
that way."

After a moment, Bill returned to the other
two, who were now standing talking in low
whispers at the back of the kennel, and said:

"No, there's no one coming." And my
heart sank as I thought how long it would be
before succour could arrive.

"The fellow's late," one of the others said,
after a minute or two; " but we had better be
on the watch now. Mind, both of you, that
he's down from his gig before he sees us."

They walked away along the line of house
towards the other entrance by which Mr.
Johnson would come; and I, thinking they had
gone to take up their hiding-places, put my
head cautiously out of the mouth of the kennel,
and looked round.

Surely I could reach the house without being
seen, I thought, and if I could but reach the
big ruinous drawing-room, which commanded
a view of the fields, the farmer would cross, I
might be able to warn him back from the fate
which awaited him. I must warn him if I
could; it was too horrible that another murder
should be done.

I was out of the kennel and in the kitchen
before I recollected that I should have to pass close
to the murdered woman before I could gain the
door leading into the hall, which I must cross to
gain the drawing-room. I shuddered as I passed
the table and drew near to the horrible scene;
but, to my utter surprise and no little terror,
Mrs. Johnson had vanished! the dark gleaming
pool of blood and the dead dog were still there,
but the huddled up bundle of clothes was gone.

What had they done with it? In spite of
the urgent necessity there was for immediate
action, I stood motionless for a minute, hesitating
to cross the dimly-lighted hall. Suppose
it should be there. I had never seen death
before, and the thought of again seeing the
dead woman looking so ghastly and horrible
with that great gaping wound across her throat,
was at that moment more terrible to me than
the thought of her murderers' return.

Whilst I stood hesitating, a shadow passed
across the first window, and, looking up quickly,
to my horror I saw the three men in another
moment pass the second window.

I had no time for thought. In another minute
they would be in the kitchen. I turned and
fled down the passage and across the hall, rushing
into the first open door, which happened to