Then came some anxious moments, for had the man glanced back when he was once outside, he must have seen the tell-tale ladder.

But he seemed immersed in his own reflections, for he hobbled steadily along the house front till he was lost to sight.
"That'll be the end o' them the day," said Dougal, as he helped Heritage to pull up the ladder and stow it away.

"We've got the place to oursels, now.

Forward, men, forward." He tried the handle of the House door and led the way in.
A narrow paved passage took them into what had once been the garden room, where the lady of the house had arranged her flowers, and the tennis racquets and croquet mallets had been kept.

It was very dusty, and on the cobwebbed walls still hung a few soiled garden overalls.