Or

J. COLE. 5

at the top of the kitchen stairs is locked, so
they must be down there; and perhaps if we
could get the watchman to come in quietly,
we might catch them in a trap, by letting him
through the drawing-room, and into the con-
servatory. He could get into the garden from
there, and as they must have got in that way
from the mews, over the stable wall, and
through the garden, they would try to escape
the same way, and the watchman would be
waiting for them, and cut off their retreat.”
I agreed, and we stole down-stairs into the
drawing-room, where we locked ourselves in,
then very gently and carefully drew up one
of the side blinds of the bay window. The
morning had begun to break, and everything
in the wide road was distinctly visible. In the
distance I could see the policeman on duty,
but on the opposite side, and going away from
our house instead of towards it. He would
turn the corner at the top of the road, and
go past the houses parallel with the backs of
our row, and then appear at the opposite end
of the park, and come along our side; there
was no intermediate turning — nothing but an