has
chased away all faintness! Besides, we should have to go down to the
office and ascertain in which room he really is. I shall be all right
now," he assured me.

He went on to say that he had come to Madrid in connexion with a
large estate in Granada, to which a client of his had laid claim.

"I shall be here for a week at least, therefore I hope you will give
me the pleasure of spending an evening with Pedro and myself. We will
dine at a restaurant and go to one of the variety theatres
afterwards."

I thanked him, and laughing at our encounter we parted quite good
friends.

On returning to my room I examined the bolt, and found that the screws
of the brass socket had been forced from the woodwork and it was lying
on the floor.

That fact caused suspicion to again arise in my mind. Surely
considerable force must have been used to break away the socket from
the woodwork. Yet I had heard nothing!

However, I returned to bed, and leaving the lights on I reflected upon
the strange episode. The fellow's excuse was quite a legitimate one,
yet I could not put from myself the fact that the door had been
forced. By whom, if not by him?

And yet he was so cool it seemed impossible that he was a thief whom I
had caught red-handed.

After half an hour I rose again and thoroughly examined the bolt, when
my suspicion was increased by a strange discovery. In my absence the
socket of the bolt had been removed, the screw holes enlarged and
filled up with bread kneaded into a paste; into this the screws had
been placed so that although I had bolted the door I could not secure
it, for the smallest pressure from outside would break the fastening
from the woodwork!

The dodge was one often practised by hotel thieves. But what proof had
I that the lawyer from Burgos had prepared that bolt? I had no means
of knowing when the screws had been rendered unstable, or by whom. It
might have been done even before I had occupied that room, for the
paste was hard and crumbling.

Nevertheless the fact remained that my door had been prepared for a
midnight theft, and I had found a stranger in my room. So with a
resolve to make further inquiry next morning, I threw myself down and
slept.

I must have been tired and overwrought, for it was past nine o'clock
when I awoke and drew up the blinds.

Then as I crossed to ring the bell for my coffee and hot water I made
a very curious discovery.

CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH

ANOTHER STR