‘Now, young man, you needn’t be in such a hurry!’

Sydney explained.

’Pardon me, madam, it’s not so much a hurry we’re in as pressed for time,—­this is a matter of life and death.’

She turned her attention to Sydney,—­speaking with a frankness for which, I imagine, he was unprepared.

’I don’t want none of your imperence, young man.  I’ve seen you before,—­you’ve been hanging about here the whole day long!—­and I don’t like the looks of you, and so I’ll let you know.  That’s my front door, and that’s my knocker,—­I’ll come down and open when I like, but I’m not going to be hurried, and if the knocker’s so much as touched again, I won’t come down at all.’

She closed the window with a bang.  Sydney seemed divided between mirth and indignation.

’That’s a nice old lady, on my honour,—­one of the good old crusty sort.  Agreeable characters this neighbourhood seems to grow,—­a sojourn hereabouts should do one good.  Unfortunately I don’t feel disposed just now to stand and kick my heels in the road.’  Again saluting the old dame by raising his hat he shouted to her at the top of his voice.  ’Madam, I beg ten thousand pardons for troubling you, but this is a matter in which every second is of vital importance,—­would you allow me to ask you one or two questions?’

Up went the window; out came the old lady’s head.

’Now, young man, you needn’t put yourself out to holler at me,—­I won’t be hollered at!  I’ll come down and open that door in five minutes by the clock on my mantelpiece, and not a moment before.’

The fiat delivered, down came the window.  Sydney looked rueful,—­ he consulted his watch.

’I don’t know what you think, Champnell, but I really doubt if this comfortable creature can tell us anything worth waiting another five minutes to hear.  We mustn’t let the grass grow under our feet, and time is getting on.’

I was of a different opinion,—­and said so.

’I’m afraid, Atherton, that I can’t agree with you.  She seems to have noticed you hanging about all day; and it is at least possible that she has noticed a good deal which would be well worth our hearing.  What more promising witness are we likely to find?—­her house is the only one which overlooks the one we have just quitted.  I am of opinion that it may not only prove well worth our while to wait five minutes, but also that it would be as well, if possible, not to offend her by the way.  She’s not likely to afford us the information we require if you do.’

’Good.  If that’s what you think I’m sure I’m willing to wait,—­ only it’s to be hoped that that clock upon her mantelpiece moves quicker than its mistress.’

Presently, when about a minute had gone, he called to the cabman.

‘Seen a sign of anything?’

The cabman shouted back.

‘Ne’er a sign,—­you’ll hear a sound of popguns when I do.’

Those five minutes did seem long ones.  But at last Sydney, from his post of vantage in the road, informed us that the old lady was moving.