burst out laughing. I looked round at Screw
as the doctor got deeper into his explanations.
The traitor was rolling his wicked eyes
horribly at me. They presented so .shocking
a sight, that I looked away again. What was
I to do next ? The minutes were getting on,
and I had not heard a word yet, through the
peep-hole, on the subject of the reserve of
Bow Street runners outside. Would it not
be best to risk everything, and get away at
once by the back of the house-?

Just as I had resolved on venturing the
worst, and making my escape forthwith, I
heard the officers interrupt the doctor's
lecture.

"Your lunch is a long time coming," said
one of them.

"Moses is lazy," answered the doctor; "and
the Madeira is in a remote part of the cellar.
Shall I ring again ?"

"Hang your ringing again! " growled the
runner impatiently. " I don't understand
why our reserve men are not here yet.
Suppose you go and give them a whistle,
Sam."

"I don't half like leaving you," returned
Sam. " This learned gentleman here is rather
a shifty sort of a chap; and it strikes me
that two of us isn't a bit too much to watch
him."

"What's that ? " exclaimed Sam's comrade,
suspiciously.

A crash of broken crockery in the lower
part of the house had followed the last word
of the cautious officer's speech. Naturally, I
could draw no special inference from the
sound; but, for all that, it filled me with a
breathless interest and suspicion, which held
me irresistibly at the peep-hole, though the
moment before I had made up my mind to
fly from the house.

"Moses is awkward as well as lazy," said
the doctor. " He has dropped the tray! O,
dear, dear me! he has certainly dropped the
tray."

"Let's take our learned friend down-stairs
between us," suggested Sam. " I shan't be
easy till we've got him out of the house."

"And I shan't be easy if we don't handcuff
him before we leave the room," returned the
other.

"Rude conduct, gentlemen—after all that
has passed, remarkably rude conduct," said
the doctor. " May I, at least, get my hat
while my hands are at liberty? It hangs on
that peg opposite to us." He moved towards
it a few steps into the middle of the room
while he spoke.

"Stop! " said Sam; " I'll get your hat for
you. We'll see if there's anything inside it
or not, before you put it on."

The doctor stood stock-still, like a soldier
at the word, Halt.

"And I'll get the handcuffs," said the other
runner, searching his coat pockets.

The doctor bowed to him assentingly and
forgivingly.

"Only oblige me with my hat, and I shall
be quite ready for you," he said—paused for
one moment, then repeated the words, "Quite
Ready," in a louder tone; and then instantly
disappeared through the floor!

I saw the two officers rush from opposite
ends of the room to a great opening in the
middle of it. The trap-door on which the
doctor had been standing, and on which he
had descended, closed up with a bang at the
same moment; and a friendly voice from
the lower regions called out gaily,
"Goodbye!"

The officers next made for the door of the
room. It had been locked from the other
side. As they tore furiously at the handle,
the roll of the wheels of the doctor's gig
sounded on the drive in front of the house;
and the friendly voice called out once more,
"Good-bye!"

I waited just long enough to see the
baffled officers unbarring the window-shutters
for the purpose of giving the alarm, before
I closed the peep-hole, and with a farewell
look at the distorted face of my prostrate
enemy, Screw, left the room.

The doctor's study-door was open as I
passed it on my way down-stairs. The locked
writing-desk, which probably contained the
only clue to Laura's retreat that I was likely
to find, was in its usual place on the table.
There was no time to break it open on the
spot. I rolled it up in my apron, took it off
bodily under my arm, and descended to the
iron door on the staircase. Just as I was
within sight of it, it was opened from the
landing on the other side. I turned to run
up-stairs again, when a familiar voice, cried,
"Stop! " and looking round, I beheld Young
File.

"All right!" he said. " Father's off with
the governor in the gig, and the runners in
hiding outside are in full cry after them. If
Bow Street can get within pistol-shot of the
blood mare, all I can say is, I give Bow Street
full leave to fire away with both barrels!
Where's Screw?"

"Gagged by me in the casting-room."

"Well done, you! Got all your things, I
see, under your arm?  Wait two seconds
while I grab my money. Never mind the
rumpus up-stairs,—there's nobody outside to
help them; and the gate's locked, if there
was."

He darted past me up the stairs. I could
hear the imprisoned officers shouting for help
from the top windows. Their reserve men
must have been far away, by this time, in
pursuit of the gig; and there was not much
chance of their getting useful help from any
stray countryman who might be passing
along the road, except in the way of sending
a message to Barkingham. Anyhow
we were sure of a half-hour to escape in, at
the very least.

"Now then," said Young File, rejoining
me; " Let's be off by the back way through.