Mattie went to business at once.
"Has any accident happened on the line to-night, sir?"
"Not any."
"What is the next train from New Cross that will reach here?"
"No train calls at New Cross till six in the morning."
"What is the next train that will leave here and call at New Cross?"
"Twenty minutes to six."
"Oh! dear."
A short spasmodic sigh, and then Mattie turned away and went back to Great Suffolk Street, opened the door, and stole cautiously up-stairs to the room wherein Harriet had been sleeping. Not there—still away from home!
"If anything has happened, I must be the first to find it out," thought Mattie, descending the stairs, listening at the foot thereof, and then passing out into the street again, closing the shop-door very cautiously behind her.