He did not, however, find Luke Hatton.

The apothecary, it appeared, had been absent from home during the last three days, and the old woman who attended upon him was full of uneasiness on his account.

Her master, she said, had left a letter on his table, and on investigation it proved to be for Osmond.

In it the writer directed him, in the event of his non-return before the time appointed, to repair without delay, well armed, to the vaults beneath Mompesson's old habitation near the Fleet, and to make strict search for him throughout them.

He also acquainted him with a secret entrance into the house, contrived in the walls beneath the lofty north-eastern turret.