Christopher stood silent. Hester could not ask him to sit down, but she must understand how he had gotten into the house. Where was his patient? In the next house? The thing certainly must be looked into! That door must be secured on their side. Their next midnight visitor might not be so welcome as this, whose heart burned to the same labour as her own!

“I never saw that door open before,” she said, “and none of us knew where it led. We took it for granted it was into the next house, but the old lady was so cross—”

Here she checked herself, for if Mr. Christopher had just come from that house, he might be a friend of the old lady’s.

“It goes into no lady’s house, so far as I understand,” said Christopher. “The stair leads to an attic—I should fancy over our heads here—much higher up though.”

“Would you show me how you came in?” said Hester.

“With pleasure,” he answered, and taking one of the candles, led the way.

“I would not let the young woman leave her husband to show me out,” he went on. “When I found myself a prisoner, I thought I would try this door before interrupting the sleep of a patient with smallpox. You seem to have it all around you here!”

Through the door so long mysterious Hester stepped on a narrow, steep stair. Christopher turned downward and trod softly. At the bottom he passed through a door admitting them to a small cellar, a mere recess. From there they came into that which the Frankses had occupied. Christopher went to the door Hester had locked and said, “There is where I came in. I suppose one of your people must have locked it.”

“I locked it myself,” replied Hester, and told him briefly the story of the evening.

“I see!” said Christopher. “We must have passed through just after you had taken them away.”

“And now the question remains,” said Hester, “—who can be in our house without our knowledge? The stair is plainly in our house.”

“Beyond a doubt, but how strange it is you should know your own house so imperfectly! I fancy the young couple, having gotten into some difficulty, found entrance the same way the Frankses did, only they went farther and fared better!—to the top of the house, I mean. They’ve managed to make themselves pretty comfortable too! There is something peculiar about them—I can hardly say what.”

“Could I not go up with you tomorrow and see them?” said Hester.

“That would hardly do. I could be of no further use to them if they were to think I betrayed them. You have a perfect right to know what is going on in your house, but I would rather not appear in the discovery. One thing is plain, you must either go to them or unlock the cellar door. You will like the young woman. She is a capable person—an excellent nurse. Shall I go out this way?”