"Where were you then?" To himself he added: "You old fool!"

"Eh?" said Mrs. Higgs.

Max repeated the question.

"Well, first I was downstairs, and then I came up here."

At last Max saw in the old woman's lackluster eyes a spark of malice.

"You're coming to open the door now?" asked he.

"All right," said she.

Down went the trap-door, and the light and the old woman disappeared
together. Max wished he had asked for a candle, although he doubted
whether his request would have been complied with.

And at the end of another five minutes, which seemed like hours, he
began to have other and graver doubts. He had gone back to his former
place near the door, and he stood waiting, with more and more eagerness,
more and more anxiety, for the promised appearance of Mrs. Higgs.

Surely, slow as her steps might be, she could have got down by this
time.

He grew restless, uneasy. The old suspicions--which her appearance and
the artful simplicity of her manner had allayed--rose up in his mind
with fresh vigor. And, to add to his anxiety, he suddenly remembered the