Every passage and gallery was searched, up to those higher ranges which opened out among the ruins of Dundonald Castle.

It was rightly supposed that through this old building Silfax passed out to obtain what was needful for the support of his miserable existence (which he must have done, either by purchasing or thieving).
As to the "fire-maidens," James Starr began to think that appearance must have been produced by some jet of fire-damp gas which, issuing from that part of the pit, could be lighted by Silfax.

He was not far wrong; but all search for proof of this was fruitless, and the continued strain of anxiety in this perpetual effort to detect a malignant and invisible being rendered the engineer--outwardly calm--an unhappy man.
389 As the wedding-day approached, his dread of some catastrophe increased, and he could not but speak of it to the old overman, whose uneasiness soon more than equaled his own.

At length the day came.

Silfax had given no token of existence.
By daybreak the entire population of Coal Town was astir.