" Well, we'd better be quick about it," one of the
constables said ; " if they are comhig back at all
they*ll be here soon. We will all take off our boots
so as not to make any noise."

He set the example himself as he spoke, and all
immediately followed it, the squire, however, ex-
periencing some difficulty in doing so on account
of the tenderness of his feet

These preparations concluded, they went to their
hiding-places, leaving Dick, as we have seen, to re-
ceive Grafton and Bobbet on their return.
It was at least half an hour that the watchers were
oblij;ed to wait before they entered, and tiiey list-
ened in breathless anxiety to the conversation which
we have described, and the remarks of Dick,
shrewdly made with a view of getting Grafton or his *
compamon to make some remark which should
fasten their supposed guilt upon them. In this Dick
had not been successful, as we have seen.
After Grafton and Bobbet had retired, the listeners
awaited for some minutes before emerging from
their place of concealment, when they all noiMlessly
entered the room, and after Dick had locked the
fh)nt-door and closed the other doors— making quite
as much noise as was usual with him in the perform-
ance of this, his regular duty — ^the squire, in much
excitement, although he spoke in whispers, an-
nounced the startling fact that he recognized in
Weber and Miller the perpetrators of the roobery at
his house.
