Mrs. Sandboys moreover, had noticed, on the very first day of the foreigners entering the establishment, a strong smell of tobacco smoke, and a fogginess in every one of the rooms that she could in no way account for; but this had worn off, and she had since paid but little attention to the matter, for, whether from continual use her senses had become in a measure accustomed to the smell, or whether from the Sandboys being located at the other side of the house, it was difficult to say, but certain it was, that after the first evening she had not been heard to complain. One night, however, the lady being rather nervous, after partaking heartily of a cold rice-pudding for supper, she felt satisfied that she heard some noise in the house. Sandboys had been fast asleep for some time, but she thumped him on the back and confided to him her suspicions that all was not right below stairs. But Cursty was too tired to trouble himself much about the matter, so he merely murmured that it was all owing to that cold rice-pudding she _would_ eat, and immediately re-arranged himself for the continuation of his slumbers. Mrs. Sandboys was too firmly convinced of the soundness of the conclusion at which she had arrived, to be able to rest quiet in her bed. She tried to close her eyes and shut out all thought of the unpleasant circumstance from her mind, but it was useless; the noise still forced itself upon her, and she could not help thinking of the lonely situation of the house, so near that wicked London as it was. They might all scream their very lives out before they could make any one hear. Nor did the stories told of the highwaymen that in the last century had infested the common, and the anecdotes she had heard of the parties who used to wait at the road-side inn, at the corner of it, till a sufficient number of travellers had arrived to allow them to cross the deserted place in a body formidable enough to prevent their being plundered. Mrs. Sandboys, therefore, rose from her bed, determined to satisfy herself whence the noise proceeded. At times she would declare that she heard voices at the opposite side of the building. Accordingly, slipping on her flannel gown, she proceeded with the rushlight shade to inspect the premises.