Then there was utter silence again, and the girl sat listening with pale face, lips apart, and her breath drawn with difficulty, as her heart beat with a heavy throb, throb, throb, at the unwonted sound. It could not be one of the dogs, for they were all chained up; and if it had been a strange step she felt that they would have barked, and given some alarm. The deer never came near the house, and it was extremely doubtful whether any of the cattle in the great park could have strayed into the private grounds through some gate having been left open. Her heart told her what the noise was, and accelerated its beats with excitement, so that when, after a renewal of the soft rustling, she heard a sound as of hard breathing, and then a husky voice whispering her name, she was in no wise surprised. "Tst--tst, Jane!" seemed to come out of the black darkness below--a darkness that she in vain tried to penetrate. "Oh, why did you come--why did you come?" sobbed Jane. "Somebody will be sure to hear you, and then you'll be in worse trouble than ever, besides getting me turned out of my place. Oh, John!--oh, John! how can you be such a cruel fellow!" "Hold your tongue, will you, and don't be a fool," was the husky reply. "I'm going to have you away from here, Jenny, in a few days, and then his proudship shall have some letters as shall make him pay me to hold my tongue, or else have all his pride tumbling about his ears." "Oh, you wicked wretch!" muttered Jane to herself, for his words roused her slumbering resentment, and drove her troubles away for the present. "Can you hear all I say?" whispered the voice from below. "Yes," whispered Jane again; "but what do you want? Oh, pray, pray go!" "Yes," said Gurdon. "I'll go when I've done; but I want to talk to you first. Who's at home? Is he here?" "Who? Master? Yes," whispered Jane, "and the doctor, and my lady's pa: they're all here, for she's been very bad to-night." "But are they all gone to bed?" whispered Gurdon. "Yes, all but Mrs Elstree, who's sitting up in my lady's room." "Come down then, softly, into the passage and open the lobby door; you can let me in then, through the billiard-room." "That I'm sure I'm not going to!" exclaimed Jane, indignantly, "and you ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking me such a thing. It isn't like you, John." "Hold your tongue, will you!" he exclaimed, gruffly. "Do you want to be heard, and have me shot by one of the keepers, or some one fire at me from one of the windows?" "N-n-no," gasped Jane; "but pray do go; pray, dear John, go away!" "Ah, you're very anxious to get rid of me now," said Gurdon, sneeringly, for he could hear that Jane was sobbing; "I may go now, just because I made a slip, and you want to see me no more. It's the way of the world." "No--no; don't talk like that," cried Jane, "for you know I don't deserve it; but pray, for both our sakes, go away at once. Write to me and say what you want."