"I am certain I heard something," said a voice, and then the parlour-door was opened, and a broad flash of light came into the shop. "I am quite sure I heard an odd noise."
"Oh, nonsense," said some one else. "Nonsense."
"But I did, I tell you."
"Yes, you fancied it half-an-hour ago, and it turned out to be nothing at all. Lord bless you, if I were to go on fancying things out of what I have heard since I have been in this house, minding it for Sir Richard Blunt, I should have been out of my mind long before this, I can tell you."
"But it was very odd."
"Well, the shop is not so large: you can soon see if Todd is in it. Ha! ha! ha!"
"No, no, I don't expect to see Todd there exactly, I confess; it would not be a very likely place in which to find him."
"Well, is there anything now?"
"No—no. It all seems much as usual, and yet I thought I did hear a noise; but I suppose it was nothing, or a rat, perhaps, for there are lots, they say, below. It might have been a rat. I did not think that before, and I feel all the easier now at the idea."
"Then, come and finish our game."