Mattie had soon arranged her plan of action; hers was a mind that jumped rapidly at conclusions--was quick to see the best way. Arousing the house would create an alarm, and if Harriet were not there--of which in her heart she was already assured--it would only set the people within talking about her. That would be to cast the first stone at her poor friend, and set the tongues of gossips wagging--that must not be! Mattie resolved to wait till some signs about the Eveleigh window blinds indicated a servant stirring in the house; she thought with a shudder of the shop in Great Suffolk Street, and the customers waiting for their papers; of Ann Packet's alarm, and Mr. Hinchford's perplexity; of the food for scandal which her absence would afford to a few inquisitive neighbours. Still all that might be easily explained, and it was only she who would receive the blame, if all turned out better than she dreamed; and if the worst were known, why, alas! her actions would readily be guessed at. Fortune favoured Mattie in the most unromantic way that morning: the Eveleighs had resolved upon having their kitchen chimney swept at half-past five, and young Erebus, true to the minute, came round the corner with his soot-bag, went up the fore-court towards the side gate, rang the bell, and gave vent to his doleful cry. The maid-servant, however, was not prompt in her responses, and Mattie stood and watched in the distance, until the sweep, becoming impatient, rang again, and rattled with his brush against the side of the door steps. From Mattie's post of vigilance she could just make him out in the darkness--a shadowy figure, that might have represented evil to her and hers. Presently the bolts of the side gate were withdrawn, and Mattie with hasty steps, crossed the road and hurried up the path. The sweep was being admitted at that time, and a red-eyed, white-faced, sulky-looking servant-maid of not more than sixteen years of age, was closing the door, when Mattie called to her to wait. Surprised at this strange apparition at so early an hour, the girl waited and stared. Mattie's plan of action would have done credit to a detective policeman; her questions seemed so wide of the mark, and kept suspicion back from her whom she loved so well. Certainly they implicated another, and drew attention to him in a marked manner; but he was a man, and could bear it, thought Mattie, and if he were at the bottom of the mystery, there was no need to study _him_--rather to track him out and come face to face with him! "Will you tell Mr. Darcy that I wish to speak a few words with him immediately?" "Mr. Darcy don't live here," said the astonished servant. "He visits here--he stayed here last night." "No, he didn't," was the abrupt reply; "he went away at ten o'clock." "With Miss Wesden, of course," was the apparently careless answer. "Yes, with Miss Wesden. He never stops here." "Where does he live?" "I don't know--somewhere about here, I believe."