"That I canna'!" said Mrs. Tams.
"No!" Mrs. Maldon protested, as Mrs. Tams approached the gas to raise it. "Don't touch the gas. If anybody's got in let them think we're asleep."
The mystery of the vanished money and the fear of assassins seemed suddenly to oppress the very air of the room. Mrs. Maldon was leaning on one elbow in her bed.
Mrs. Tams said to her in a whisper—
"I mun go see."
"Please don't!" Mrs. Maldon entreated.
"I mun go see," said Mrs. Tams.
She was afraid, but she conceived that she ought to examine the house, and no fear could have stopped her from going forth into the zone of danger.
The next moment she gave a short laugh, and said in her ordinary tone—
"Bless us! I shall be forgetting the nose on my face next. It's Miss Rachel coming in, of course."