"We've got him, fast enough," returned Bingham.
A piercing shriek from a window that had been thrown open, denoted the anguish of the Jewess, whose ears had caught these words.
Mr. Dykes and his attendant subordinate now retraced their way to the trap-door, through the aperture of which they once more forced themselves; and when they had regained the landing Dykes said, "Now you go and join my partner Bingham, 'cos this Rainford is a desperate feller, and the more there is to guard him the better."
The man accordingly took his departure, and Mr. Dykes knocked gently at the door of the bed-room.
"Who is there?" asked a voice within,—a voice soft and melodious, but now expressive of the most intense anguish.
"Beg pardon, ma'am," said Dykes; "but I must do my duty; and if so be you'll have the kindness to dress yourself, I should like to examine the boxes and cupboards, and such like—just for form's sake, and that's all."
"Must you thus add to the grief which is already——"
The plaintive voice was interrupted by a violent fit of sobbing, with the mournful sounds of which the crying of the little boy now commingled.
"I don't want to annoy you, ma'am," returned Dykes.
"I should hope not, indeed!" exclaimed the landlady, who, having been alarmed by the disturbance, had got up and dressed herself, and was now ascending the stairs. "But what is it all about? and why do you break into a respectable house in this way? I don't suppose you're thieves—or else——"