“Come on, sor,” whispered Larry. He took my hand and led me up to the house until I could reach out and touch the wall. He seemed to be quite able to see in the dark, for I heard him fumbling with something for only a moment and then his hand caught mine again. “Sure, ’tis all done for us, sor. The windy’s open now. Step over the sill and feel for the floor with yer fut. And make no sound now for the love av Mike.” So I stepped into the house, closely followed by Larry. Once in, he turned and closed the window behind us. “And now, sor,” he whispered, “we’ll just be going through the place from cellar to garret. Do but watch yer feet!” And suddenly a little beam of light flashed, dancing about me. The search was on. Chapter XIV What We Found Larry’s tiny electric torch showed us a small basement room, evidently used as a laundry. An unlocked door led from it into the kitchen, an old-fashioned one and very large. And after listening at the door for a moment we explored this room also. The fire was out and the ashes were quite cold, and the coolness of the air in the room indicated that no fire had been lit in it that day, or, at least, late that day. Evidently the housemaid’s tale to Larry about the discharge of the servants was correct, and we explored the rest of the basement with more confidence that we were alone in it. It was quite deserted. Presently, off the hall-way running the entire length of the basement floor, we found the stairs leading up to the floor above. Larry put up a restraining hand here, and we paused listening for several minutes and peering up into the darkness. But aside from the tiny creaks and soft thuds always to be heard at night in an old house, the floor above was as silent as the basement. I could hear my own heart thumping away as I listened. At last Larry gave the signal and we began to creep silently upward. A board snapped suddenly underfoot and we both stopped and listened for a while, but nothing happened, and presently we started on again, raising and putting down each foot with infinite care until we stood in the big, carpeted hallway above, staring cautiously about us. Larry had put out his torch when we started up the basement steps. But in the upper hall enough light filtered in from near-by arc-lights in the street to show us the dim outlines of furniture already familiar to me from several visits to Mrs. Fawcette’s house. It was an eerie sensation standing there at night and in darkness, on such a search, in this hall which I had only known as a guest, when it was bright with lights and color and noisy with laughter and the babble of voices. But the object of my search and my anxiety over Natalie swept over me again, and I reached out in the darkness and touched Larry’s arm impatiently. He turned and put his lips against my ear.