Mrs. Grey's baby was lying in its cot. Mrs. Grey, who had been hushing it to sleep, prepared to change her morning wrapper for the gown she would wear during the day. A bouquet of fresh-cut flowers lay on the dressing-table, and the chamber window stood open to the free, fresh air. Ann Hopley was in the scullery below, peeling the potatoes for dinner, and the old man servant was out somewhere over his work. As the woman threw the last potato into the pan, there came a gentle ring at the gate bell. She turned round and looked at the clock in the kitchen. "Who's that, I wonder? It's too early for the bread. Any way, you'll wait till I've got my potatoes on, whoever you may be," concluded she, addressing the unknown intruder. The saucepan on, she went forth. At the gate stood an inoffensive-looking young man with a large letter or folded parchment in his hand. "What do you want?" asked Ann Hopley. "Is this the Maze?" "Yes." "Does a lady named Grey live here?" "Yes." "Then I've got to leave this for her, please." Taking the key from her pocket, Ann Hopley unsuspiciously opened the gate, and held forth her hand to take the parchment. Instead of giving it to her, the man pushed past, inside; and, to Ann Hopley's horror, Mr. Strange and a policeman suddenly appeared, and followed him. She would have closed the gate upon them; and she made a kind of frantic effort to do so: but one woman cannot effect much against three determined men. "You can shut it now," said Mr. Strange, when they were inside. "Don't be alarmed, my good woman: we have no wish to harm you." "What do you want?--and why do you force yourselves in, in this way?" she inquired, frightened nearly to death. "I am a detective officer belonging to the London police force," said Mr. Strange, introducing himself in his true character. "I bring with me a warrant to search the house called the Maze and its out-door premises"--taking the folded paper from the man's hand. "Would you like me to read it to you before I go on?" "Search them for what!" asked Ann Hopley, feeling angry with herself for her white face. "I don't want to hear anything read. Do you think we have got stolen goods here?--I'm sure you are enough to scare a body's senses away, bursting in like this!" Mr. Strange slightly laughed. "We are not looking for stolen goods," he said. "What for then!" resumed the woman, striving to be calm. "For some one whom I believe is concealed here." "Some one concealed here! Is it me?--or my mistress?--or my old husband?" "No." "Then you won't find anybody else," she returned with an air of relief. "There's no soul in the place but us three, and that I'll vow: except Mrs. Grey's baby. And we had good characters, sir, I can tell you, both me and my husband, before Mrs. Grey engaged us. Would we harbour loose characters here, do you suppose?"