Lucius Davoren, Volume II by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

At nine o'clock Lucius stood before the tall iron gate waiting for admittance to Mr. Sivewright's dwelling. In spite of his weariness, he had slept but little in the interval. The fever of his brain was not to be beguiled into slumber. He could only go over the same ground again and again, trying to convince himself that the mystery of that secret entrance to Cedar House was a very simple matter and would be made clear after a little trouble.

He scrutinised Mrs. Wincher keenly, as she unlocked the gate and conducted him across the forecourt; but nothing in the aspect of Mr. Wincher's good lady indicated agitation or emotion of any kind whatsoever. If this woman were involved in some nightly act of wrong-doing against her master, she was evidently hardened in iniquity. Her face, not altogether free from the traces of a blacklead brush, with which she may perchance have brushed aside an importunate fly, was placidity itself.