The voice came from the advancing figures, now emerging from the trees.
"Yes," called Cutts, in a whisper. "Is that you, Ed—you and Jim?"
How came these two in the Trinity church-yard at this hour of the night?
The strangeness of the thing struck the boy at once, as he stood leaning against the rail.
"What the mischief are you fellows doing there?" he exclaimed, peering forward into the darkness. "Cutts, what does this thing mean?"
"It means villainy, it means wickedness!" cried a feeble voice from the sidewalk below. "It means ruin to you, my son, if you persist in what you are about to do."
There, kneeling upon the snow-covered pavement beneath the wall, Frank, turning suddenly and pressing his face against the iron palings, perceived a strange and weird form.
It was a woman, old, faded and gray, who, with upturned features and hands clasped above her head now met his astonished gaze.
It was the singular creature who had followed him from the gambling hall.
Not for one moment had the boy been lost from her view.