“Asleep, or nearly,” answer’d Mary—

“Who hang’d hersel’ in her gar-ters, All for the love o’ man—”

“—Anon, anon, master: wait only till I get the kettle on the boil.”

The hatch was slipp’d to again. I stood up and made a step toward the girl.

“How many are they?” I ask’d, jerking a finger in the direction of the parlor.

“A dozen all but one.”

“Where is the foreign guests’ room?”

“Left hand, on the first landing.”

“The staircase?”

“Just outside the door.”