th landed against
the locked door with a force that burst it open. Geoffrey, on top and
armed, had little difficulty in securing his bruised foe, and marching
him back to the library where he now took the precaution of locking all
the doors.

Geoffrey, who had felt himself tingling with excitement and the natural
love of the chase, now had time to wonder what he was going to do with
his capture. He thought of the darkness, the storm, the absence of the
two undermen, and the helplessness of the McFarlanes. Then he remembered
the telephone, which, fortunately, stood in a closet off the library.

He turned to the burglar. "Stand with your face to the wall and your
hands up," he said; "and if I see you move I'd just as lief shoot you as
look at you," with which warning he approached the telephone and, still
keeping an eye on the other, rang up central. There was no answer. He
rang again,--six, seven times he repeated the process unavailingly. He
tried the private wire to the McFarlane cottage with no better result.

At this point the burglar spoke.

"Oh, what the devil!" he said mildly; "I can't stand here with my hands
over my head all night."

"You'll stand there," replied Geoffrey with some temper, "until I'm
ready for you to move."

"And when will that be?"

"When this fool of a Central answers."

"Oh, not as long as that, I hope," said the burglar, "because, to tell
the truth, I always cut the telephone wires before I enter a house."

There was a pause in which it was well Geoffrey did not see the artless
smile of satisfaction which wreathed the burglar's face. At length
Geoffrey said:

"In that case you might as well sit down, for we seem likely to stay
here until morning." He calculated that by that time, Mrs. McFarlane,
alarmed at his absence, would send some one to look for him,--some one
who could be used as a messenger to fetch the constable.

To this suggestion the burglar appeared to acquiesce, for he sank at
once into an armchair--an armchair toward which Holland himself was
making his way, knowing it to be the most comfortable for an all-night
session. Feeling the absurdity of making any point of the matter,
however, he contented himself with the sofa.

"Take off your mask," he said as he sat down.

"So I will, thank you," said the burglar as if he had been asked to
remove his hat, and with his left hand he slipped it off. The face that
met Geoffrey's interested gaze was thin, yet ruddy, and t