ve of France, Italy, Spain, or Germany. When I
began to succeed as a private detective in London, and had accumulated
money enough for my project, I determined not to be hampered by this
unexplainable softness of the English toward an accused person. I
therefore reconstructed my flat, and placed in the centre of it a dark
room strong as any Bastille cell. It was twelve feet square, and
contained no furniture except a number of shelves, a lavatory in one
corner, and a pallet on the floor. It was ventilated by two flues
from the centre of the ceiling, in one of which operated an electric
fan, which, when the room was occupied, sent the foul air up that
flue, and drew down fresh air through the other. The entrance to this
cell opened out from my bedroom, and the most minute inspection would
have failed to reveal the door, which was of massive steel, and was
opened and shut by electric buttons that were partially concealed by
the head of my bed. Even if they had been discovered, they would have
revealed nothing, because the first turn of the button lit the
electric light at the head of my bed; the second turn put it out; and
this would happen as often as the button was turned to the right. But
turn it three times slowly to the left, and the steel door opened. Its
juncture was completely concealed by panelling. I have brought many a
scoundrel to reason within the impregnable walls of that small room.

Those who know the building regulations of London will wonder how it
was possible for me to delude the Government inspector during the
erection of this section of the Bastille in the midst of the modern
metropolis. It was the simplest thing in the world. Liberty of the
subject is the first great rule with the English people, and thus many
a criminal is allowed to escape. Here was I laying plans for the
contravening of this first great rule, and to do so I took advantage
of the second great rule of the English people, which is, that
property is sacred. I told the building authorities I was a rich man
with a great distrust of banks, and I wished to build in my flat a
safe or strong-room in which to deposit my valuables. I built then
such a room as may be found in every bank, and many private premises
of the City, and a tenant might have lived in my flat for a year and
never suspected the existence of this prison. A railway engine might
have screeched its whistle within it, and not a sound would have
penetrated the apartments that