upon
which he had written down the address which Mademoiselle Idiale had
given him. The man with the gold-rimmed glasses replaced the paper
where he had found it. Evidently he had done with the writing-table.
He moved swiftly over to the safe and stood there listening for a
few seconds. Then from his pocket he drew a bunch of keys. To
Laverick's surprise, at the stranger's first effort the great door
of the safe swung open. He saw the man lean forward, saw his hand
reappear almost directly with the pocket-book clenched in his fingers.
Then he stood once more quite still, listening. Satisfied that no
one was disturbed, he closed the door of the safe softly and moved
once more to the writing-table. With marvelous swiftness the notes
were laid upon the table, the pocket-book was turned upside down,
the secret place disclosed--the secret place which was empty. It
seemed to Laverick that from his hiding-place he could hear the little
oath of disappointment which broke from the thin red lips. The man
replaced the notes and, with the pocket-book in his hand, hesitated.
Laverick, who thought that things had gone far enough, stepped lightly
out from his hiding-place and stood between his unbidden visitor and
the door.

"You had better put down that pocket-book," he ordered quietly.

The man was upon him with a single spring, but Laverick, without
the slightest hesitation, knocked him prone upon the floor, where
he lay, for a moment, motionless. Then he slowly picked himself up.
His spectacles were broken--he blinked as he stood there.

"Sorry to be so rough," Laverick said. "Perhaps if you will kindly
realize that of the two I am much the stronger man, you will be so
good as to sit in that chair and tell me the meaning of your
intrusion."

The man obeyed. He covered his eyes with his hand, for a moment,
as though in pain.

"I imagine," he said--and it seemed to Laverick that his voice had
a slight foreign accent--"I imagine that the motive for my paying
you this visit is fairly clear to you. People who have compromising
possessions may always expect visits of this sort. You see, one
runs so little risk."

"So little risk!" Laverick repeated.

"Exactly," the other answered. "Confess that you are not in the
least inclined to ring your bell and send for a constable to give
me in charge for being in possession of a pocket-book abstracted
from your safe, containing twenty thousand pounds in Bank of
England n