In another moment Tommy was once more confronting bare wooden panels,
and the voices within had sunk once more to a mere undistinguishable
murmur. Tommy became restive. The conversation he had overheard had
stimulated his curiosity. He felt that, by hook or by crook, he must
hear more.

There was no sound from below, and it did not seem likely that the
doorkeeper would come upstairs. After listening intently for a minute or
two, he put his head round the curtain. The passage was deserted. Tommy
bent down and removed his shoes, then, leaving them behind the curtain,
he walked gingerly out on his stockinged feet, and kneeling down by
the closed door he laid his ear cautiously to the crack. To his intense
annoyance he could distinguish little more; just a chance word here and
there if a voice was raised, which merely served to whet his curiosity
still farther.

He eyed the handle of the door tentatively. Could he turn it by degrees
so gently and imperceptibly that those in the room would notice nothing?
He decided that with great care it could be done. Very slowly, a
fraction of an inch at a time, he moved it round, holding his breath in
his excessive care. A little more--a little more still--would it never
be finished? Ah! at last it would turn no farther.

He stayed so for a minute or two, then drew a deep breath, and pressed
it ever so slightly inward. The door did not budge. Tommy was annoyed.
If he had to use too much force, it would almost certainly creak.
He waited until the voices rose a little, then he tried again. Still
nothing happened. He increased the pressure. Had the beastly thing
stuck? Finally, in desperation, he pushed with all his might. But the
door remained firm, and at last the truth dawned upon him. It was locked
or bolted on the inside.

For a moment or two Tommy's indignation got the better of him.

"Well, I'm damned!" he said. "What a dirty trick!"

As his indignation cooled, he prepared to face the situation. Clearly
the first thing to be done was to restore the handle to its original
position. If he let it go suddenly, the men inside would be almost
certain to notice it, so, with the same infinite pains, he reversed his
former tactics. All went well, and with a sigh of relief the young man
rose to his feet. There was a certain bulldog tenacity about Tommy that
made him slow to admit defeat. Checkmated for the moment, he was far
from abandoning the conflict. He still intended to hear what w