He had better prosecute his errand secretly, and tell her the result at the end.

Cherry dearly loved a little bit of mystery, and was very anxious that Cuthbert should continue to occupy his present position in her father's good graces.
The Cat and Fiddle was none too well looking a place when Cuthbert succeeded at last in finding it.

It had one door in the thoroughfare of Holborn, but it ran back some way, and its other doors opened into a narrow alley turning off from the main street under a low archway.

As Cuthbert pushed open the door of the public room, he saw several men with faces of decidedly unprepossessing type sitting together at a table engrossed in talk, and these all looked quickly up as he entered, and gazed at him with undisguised suspicion.
A burly man, who had the look of a host, came forward, and asked his business rather roughly.

Strangers did not appear to meet any warmth of welcome at this place.