It was not till the sun had been some hours risen that Mr. Grabman
imitated that luminary's example. When he did so, he found, somewhat to
his chagrin, that John Ardworth had long been gone. In fact, whatever
the motive that had led the latter on the search, he had succeeded in
gleaning from Grabman all that that person could communicate, and their
interview had inspired him with such disgust of the attorney, and so
small an opinion of the value of his co-operation (in which last belief,
perhaps, he was mistaken), that he had resolved to continue his inquiries
alone, and had already, in his early morning's walk through the village,
ascertained that the man with whom Mrs. Joplin had quitted the place had
some time after been sentenced to six months' imprisonment in the county
jail. Possibly the prison authorities might know something to lead to
his discovery, and through him the news of his paramour might be gained.




CHAPTER XX.

MORE OF MRS. JOPLIN.

One day, at the hour of noon, the court boasting the tall residence of
Mr. Grabman was startled from the quiet usually reigning there at broad
daylight by the appearance of two men, evidently no inhabitants of the
place. The squalid, ill-favoured denizens lounging before the doors
stared hard, and at the fuller view of one of the men, most of them
retreated hastily within. Then, in those houses, you might have heard a
murmur of consternation and alarm. The ferret was in the burrow,--a Bow-
Street officer in the court! The two men paused, looked round, and
stopping before the dingy towerlike house, selected the bell which