CHAPTER IV.

The Roof and the Window.


Leaving them to pursue their conference, we shall follow the footsteps
of Jonathan, who, as the Master surmised, and, as we have intimated, had
unquestionably entered the house. But at the beginning of the affray,
when he thought every one was too much occupied with his own concerns to
remark his absence, he slipped out of the room, not for the purpose of
avoiding the engagement (for cowardice was not one of his failings), but
because he had another object in view. Creeping stealthily up stairs,
unmasking a dark lantern, and glancing into each room as he passed, he
was startled in one of them by the appearance of Mrs. Sheppard, who
seemed to be crouching upon the floor. Satisfied, however, that she did
not notice him, Jonathan glided away as noiselessly as he came, and
ascended another short flight of stairs leading to the garret. As he
crossed this chamber, his foot struck against something on the floor,
which nearly threw him down, and stooping to examine the object, he
found it was a key. "Never throw away a chance," thought Jonathan. "Who
knows but this key may open a golden lock one of these days?" And,
picking it up, he thrust it into his pocket.

Arrived beneath an aperture in the broken roof, he was preparing to pass
through it, when he observed a little heap of tiles upon the floor,
which appeared to have been recently dislodged. "He _has_ passed this