In Which Mr Headstone Arouses His Landlady's Suspicions

Anxious to learn of the contents of the old gentleman's sack, which had come into his possession by pure chance, Mr Headstone hurried back to his lodgings as fast as the weight of his new burden would allow him. Climbing to his rooms, the pedagogue encountered his landlady Mrs Raddle, who was carrying a saucer of milk and bending over obscure corners of the stairway whilst making a soft clucking sound with her tongue. She paused in this singular performance to allow her tenant to pass by, and eyed him rather narrowly as he endeavoured to keep the sack from her inquisitor's gaze by holding it behind his back and shuffling across the landing in the manner of a crab. Whenever a man imitates the motions of a beast, his actions are sure to come under suspicion, and before the pedagogue could gain the next flight of stairs, his landlady had interposed herself between him and the first step. The saucer of milk prevented her from assuming her customary stance of defiance with arms akimbo, but, as a token to the act, she placed one hand on her hip. Feeling that this posture was something of a half measure, she jutted out her chin by way of compensation, and enquired what the pedagogue had in his sack.

Mr Headstone momentarily considered the possibility of denying the existence of the article in question, but, even as he tried to conceal it behind his back, the sound of the contents rearranging themselves in a cacophonous and most inharmonious manner gave an immediate lie to the endeavour. He drew the sack out from under his coat tails and, loosening the cord from around its neck, emptied a number of rusty strong boxes at his landlady's feet. Mrs Raddle gave this collection of ancient ironmongery a look of disdain and, with a toss of her head, marched down the stairs, muttering that she thought she had caught the pedagogue in the act of abducting her beloved tom with the purpose of selling him for cat meat - to which suspicion Mr Headstone laughed most heartily as he gathered up the strong boxes and stuffed them back into the sack.