Chapter 2

Since domestic help was so hard to get , Lucy had to do practically all the work in the boarding-house, running up and down four flights of stairs from the basement kitchen; carrying heavy trays; polishing and cleaning, putting up with the querulousness and complaints of the lodgers, fetching old Colonel Murga's hot water and paper each evening and filling Miss Soper's bottle.

By the end of the day she was so tired that she just dropped off to sleep the moment her head touched the pillow. She had often wanted to leave her aunt and get a job, but Mrs Moreno made her clearly understand that she considered Lucy owed her a great deal for her keep and education all these years  and that she could best pay her back by helping in the boarding-house, being of a rather timid and retiring disposition the girl let herself be imposed on. 

The tinkling of glass and china somewhere downstairs broke her train of thought; she strained forward , listening intently. There it was again - the same sound! Her aunt had gone to see her younger sister that afternoon and had said that she might stay the night, so Lucy was alone in the house. She wondered if it was a burglar; but surely no burglar who knew his trade would make such a noise as that? It could be Sandy, the ginger cat, but she did not think so.

The sound was different from any he would have made. She supposed she would have to go and investigate,