"Let him be, let him be," said the doctor; "he must come out again, for there are no provisions in the place, and he will be starved out."
"Hush! what is that?" said Henry.
There was a very gentle ring at the bell which hung over the garden gate.
"That's an experiment, now, I'll be bound," said the doctor, "to ascertain if any one is here; let us hide ourselves, and take no notice."
The ring in a few moments was repeated, and the three confederates hid themselves effectually behind some thick laurel bushes and awaited with expectation what might next ensue.
Not long had they occupied their place of concealment, before they heard a heavy fall upon the gravelled pathway, immediately within the gate, as if some one had clambered to the top from the outside, and then jumped down.
That this was the case the sound of footsteps soon convinced them, and to their surprise as well as satisfaction, they saw through the interstices of the laurel bush behind which they were concealed, no less a personage that Sir Francis Varney himself.
"It is Varney," said Henry.
"Yes, yes," whispered the doctor. "Let him be, do not move for any consideration, for the first time let him do just what he likes."
"D—n the fellow!" said the admiral; "there are some points about him that like, after all, and he's quite an angel compared to that rascal Marchdale."