Beatrice could not rest within doors. She put on a hat, and draped a
long black cloak over her white dress. Attired thus, she walked up
and down on the dry grass, trying to compose herself. Around gloomed
the girdle of trees, without even a leaf stirring. The colours of the
flowers were vague in the hot twilight, and the white forms of the
seven railway carriages stood here and there like tombs in a cemetery.
As she lingered near the sundial, she cast a look upward at the Downs,
which rose vast and shadowy to be defined clearly against a clear sky.
The foot of them was but a stone-throw away from The Camp, and almost
it was in her mind to climb their heights in order to get a breath of
fresh air. Here in the hollow, embosomed in woods, she felt stifling;
but up there surely a sweet, fresh wind must be blowing, full of
moisture from the Channel. Then the thought of a possible walk recalled
her to a remembrance of her appointment: she intended to keep it, even
though Durban had gone away. The key was in her pocket, and she could
slip out of the small gate for an hour, and get back again without
Alpenny being any the wiser. Already a light gleamed from the solitary
window of the dungeon, as it had gleamed ever since she could remember
when the darkness came on. Behind the discoloured blind the miser
laboured at his books, and counted his gains. So far as she knew all
his money was banked and invested, and he kept no gold in the dungeon.
Perhaps he feared robbery; and it really was remarkable that, seeing
he was supposed to be a millionaire, The Camp had never been marked
by the fraternity of London thieves. A visit there would surely have
proved successful, if all the tales of Alpenny were to be believed. But
perhaps the thieves had heard, as the miser had vaguely hinted, of his
cleverness in keeping no specie in his retirement. But be this as it
may, Alpenny, all these years, had never hinted at a possible burglary.
After a glance at the Downs and at Alpenny's lighted window, behind
which he would sit until midnight, Beatrice entered one of the winding
paths in the little wood and took her way to the gate. The large gates
were locked, and Alpenny alone possessed the key; but she could open
the smaller gate, and now proceeded to do so.