Crossing the drawbridge--which was fortunately lowered,--they were about to shape their course towards the stables, which lay at the further side of the Hall, when they perceived the old steward, Heydocke, standing at the doorway and wringing his hands in distraction.

Humphrey Chetham immediately called to him.
"I should know that voice!" cried the old man, stepping forward.

"Ah! Mr.Chetham, is it you?
You are arrived at a sad time, sir--a sad time--to see the old house, where I have dwelt, man and boy, sixty years and more, in flames.

But one calamity has trodden upon the heels of another.

Ever since Sir William departed for Holywell nothing has gone right--nothing whatever.