And, persuaded by me, Mrs. Rayner, now relieved of any dread on Sarah’s account, returned to the front spare-room, which, however disagreeable the remembrance of Sarah’s mad attempt on her life might be, was at any rate healthier than the dungeon in the left wing. There was really nothing to keep the poor lady at the Alders now, as I told Laurence by letter that evening all that Gordon had said to me in the store-room, and the idea gained ground that Mr. Rayner had gone to America. But she insisted upon remaining until I was well enough to be moved, an event which I had myself retarded by rashly leaving my room three times since I had been told to keep to my bed. Next day, which was Saturday, Laurence wrote to say that he had himself searched the store-room and Mr. Rayner’s study, but had found no trace of Gordon beyond a pair of handcuffs placed neatly in the middle of the store-room on the top of a pyramid of biscuit-tins and pickle-jars, with a sheet of paper saying that the late wearer begged to return them with thanks to the police, who might perhaps succeed in making them stay longer on the wrists of a simpler rogue than their obedient servant, F. Gordon. Those days that I spent in bed were a miserable time for all of us. The suspense we were all in--never sure whether Mr. Rayner was in America or whether he might not be really close to us all the time. The bits of news brought us from hour to hour by the awe-stricken Jane--first that there was a large reward offered for his capture; then rumors, which always proved to be false, of his having been caught; then complaints of the number of people who came just to look at the outside of the house that the ugly stories were being told about! For the facts fell far short of the accounts which were freely circulated--of there being a cellar full of human bones, supposed to be the remains of Mr. Rayner’s victims, under the Alders; that the household consisted entirely of women whom he had married at one time or another; and so forth. Meanwhile the fog still hung about the place, and Nap, the retriever, howled every night. When Monday came, I, anxious to be declared convalescent as soon as possible, and to be able to avail myself of Mrs. Manners’s invitation to stay at the Vicarage, persuaded Doctor Lowe to let me go downstairs. It was about twelve o’clock when I left my room, and I had made my way as far as the corridor below, when I became aware of an unusual commotion on the ground-floor, doors being opened and shut, the sobbing of a woman, excited whisperings between Jane and the cook, and then a heavy tramp, tramp of men’s feet through the hall and along the passage to Mr. Rayner’s study.