"The house must be searched. He may be concealed within it," said Captain Woolfe. "Show me to the upper rooms," he added to the host.
"Readily," replied Kilvert. "And should you discover him, I will be content to take his place, and that I would not do for a thousand pound. This way, captain! this way!"
As soon as they were gone, Dame Gives exclaimed, distractedly:
"Cruel and ungrateful man! Is this the way you reward me? In my desire to serve you, I have destroyed poor Urso."
"You ought to thank me for ridding you of such a miscreant," rejoined Careless. "You do not seem to comprehend the magnitude of his offence."
"Yes, I do comprehend it," she rejoined. "I regard the crime with horror. But I am his wife. Save him! save him!"
"Impossible!" exclaimed Careless. "I would not save him if I could. I am sorry for you, Mary, but I cannot feel the slightest compassion for the villain you have married. It pains me that his arrest cannot be accomplished without your taking part in it."
"Oh! that I could warn him of his danger," she exclaimed. "If I could only give him a signal!"
"The signal would be useless," said Careless. "A guard is posted outside."
"But he will not enter from the street!" she cried. "The door at the back is left open. I must fasten it."