red plush seats protruding from the walls, and in striking contrast
with the simplicity of the rest of the apartment.

"This," remarked Raffles Haw, "is a lift, though it is so closely joined
to the rest of the room that without the change in colour it might
puzzle you to find the division. It is made to run either horizontally
or vertically. This line of knobs represents the various rooms. You can
see 'Dining,' 'Smoking,' 'Billiard,' 'Library' and so on, upon them. I
will show you the upward action. I press this one with 'Kitchen' upon
it."

There was a sense of motion, a very slight jar, and Robert, without
moving from his seat, was conscious that the room had vanished, and that
a large arched oaken door stood in the place which it had occupied.

"That is the kitchen door," said Raffles Haw. "I have my kitchen at the
top of the house. I cannot tolerate the smell of cooking. We have come
up eighty feet in a very few seconds. Now I press again and here we are
in my room once more."

Robert McIntyre stared about him in astonishment.

"The wonders of science are greater than those of magic," he remarked.

"Yes, it is a pretty little mechanism. Now we try the horizontal. I
press the 'Dining' knob and here we are, you see. Step towards the door,
and you will find it open in front of you."

Robert did as he was bid, and found himself with his companion in a
large and lofty room, while the lift, the instant that it was freed
from their weight, flashed back to its original position. With his feet
sinking into the soft rich carpet, as though he were ankle-deep in some
mossy bank, he stared about him at the great pictures which lined the
walls.

"Surely, surely, I see Raphael's touch there," he cried, pointing up at
the one which faced him.

"Yes, it is a Raphael, and I believe one of his best. I had a very
exciting bid for it with the French Government. They wanted it for the
Louvre, but of course at an auction the longest purse must win."

"And this 'Arrest of Catiline' must be a Rubens. One cannot mistake his
splendid men and his infamous women."

"Yes, it is a Rubens. The other two are a Velasquez and a Teniers,
fair specimens of the Spanish and of the Dutch schools. I have only old
masters here. The moderns are in the billiard-room. The furniture here
is a little curious. In fact, I fancy that it is unique. It is made of
ebony and narwhals' horns. You see that the legs of everything are of
spiral ivory, both t