He lay still and bided
his time.
General Rolleston's house stood clear of the town at the end of a short
but narrow and tortuous lane. This situation had tempted the burglars
whom Seaton baffled; and now it tempted Seaton.
Wardlaw must pass that way on leaving General Rolleston's house.
At a bend of the lane two twin elms stood out a foot or two from the
hedge. Seaton got behind these at about ten o'clock and watched for him
with a patience and immobility that boded ill.
His preparations for this encounter were singular. He had a
close-shutting inkstand and a pen, and one sheet of paper, at the top of
which he had written "Sydney," and the day of the month and year, leaving
the rest blank. And he had the revolver with which he had shot the robber
at Helen Rolleston's window; and a barrel of that arm was loaded with
swan shot.
CHAPTER V.
THE moon went down; the stars shone out clearer.
Eleven o'clock boomed from a church clock in the town.
Wardlaw did not come, and Seaton did not move from his ambush.
Twelve o'clock boomed, and Wardlaw never came, and Seaton never moved.
Soon after midnight General Rolleston's hall door opened, and a figure
appeared in a flood of light. Seaton's eye gleamed at the light, for it
was young Wardlaw, with a footman at his back holding a lighted lamp.
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