CHAPTER XI.--The Night of Adventures.

A cold March wind whistled and yelled round the twisted chimneys of the _Hit or Miss_. The day had been a trial to every sense. First there would come a long-drawn distant moan, a sigh like that of a querulous woman; then the sigh grew nearer and became a shriek, as if the same woman were working herself up into a passion; and finally a gust of rainy hail, mixed with dust and small stones, was dashed, like a parting insult, on the windows of the _Hit or Miss_.

Then the shriek died away again into a wail and a moan, and so _da capo_.

"Well, Eliza, what do you do now that the pantomime season is over?" said Barton to Miss Gullick, who was busily dressing a doll, as she perched on the table in the parlor of the _Hit or Miss_.

Barton occasionally looked into the public-house, partly to see that Maitland's investment was properly managed, partly because the place was near the scene of his labors; not least, perhaps, because he had still an unacknowledged hope that light on the mystery of Margaret would come from the original centre of the troubles.

"I'm in no hurry to take an engagement," answered the resolute Eliza, holding up and examining her doll. It was a fashionable doll, in a close-fitting tweed ulster, which covered a perfect panoply of other female furniture, all in the latest mode. As the child worked, she looked now and then at the illustrations in a journal of the fashions. "There's two or three managers in treaty with me," said Eliza. "There's the _Follies and Frivolities_ down Norwood way, and the _Varieties_ in the 'Ammersmith Road. Thirty shillings a week and my dresses, that's what I ask for, and I'll get it too! Just now I'm taking a vacation, and making an honest penny with these things," and she nodded at a little basket full of the wardrobe of dolls.

1. Who sometimes looked into the public-house?
2. What was one of the reasons he did?
3. What was another?
4. Who wasn't in a hurry?
5. Who was busy dressing a doll?
6. Where was she?
7. Was it windy around the Hit or Miss?
8. What was the doll dressed in?
9. What was the child looking at?
10. Who was in treaty with Eliza?
11. Who was looking at the illustrations in the journal?
12. How many shillings did she want per week?
13. What else did she ask for?
14. Did she say she was on vacation?
15. What was in the basket?
16. What mystery did Barton hope to find out about?
17. What had been a trial to the senses?
18. What did the wind sound like at first?
19. And who did it sound like?
20. Was there rain?

Numbered answers:
1. Barton
2. see that Maitland's investment was properly managed
3. the place was near the scene of his labors
4. Eliza
5. Miss Gullick
6. on the table
7. yes
8. close-fitting tweed ulster
9. her doll
10. two or three managers
11. Eliza
12. Thirty
13. dresses
14. yes
15. wardrobe of dolls
16. of Margaret
17. The day
18. long-drawn distant moan
19. a sigh like that of a querulous woman
20. yes, rainy hail