with the McIntyres
now, and there were few days on which they did not see something of each
other.

They gladly accompanied him, all three, for such invitations were
usually the prelude of some agreeable surprise which he had in store for
them.

"I have shown you a tiger," he remarked to Laura, as he led them into
the dining-room. "I will now show you something quite as dangerous,
though not nearly so pretty." There was an arrangement of mirrors at one
end of the room, with a large circular glass set at a sharp angle at the
top.

"Look in there--in the upper glass," said Raffles Haw.

"Good gracious! what dreadful-looking men!" cried Laura. "There are two
of them, and I don't know which is the worse."

"What on earth are they doing?" asked Robert. "They appear to be sitting
on the ground in some sort of a cellar."

"Most dangerous-looking characters," said the old man. "I should
strongly recommend you to send for a policeman."

"I have done so. But it seems a work of supererogation to take them to
prison, for they are very snugly in prison already. However, I suppose
that the law must have its own."

"And who are they, and how did they come there? Do tell us, Mr. Haw."

Laura McIntyre had a pretty beseeching way with her, which went rather
piquantly with her queenly style of beauty.

"I know no more than you do. They were not there last night, and they
are here this morning, so I suppose it is a safe inference that they
came in during the night, especially as my servants found the window
open when they came down. As to their character and intentions, I should
think that is pretty legible upon their faces. They look a pair of
beauties, don't they?"

"But I cannot understand in the least where they are," said Robert,
staring into the mirror. "One of them has taken to butting his head
against the wall. No, he is bending so that the other may stand upon his
back. He is up there now, and the light is shining upon his face. What
a bewildered ruffianly face it is too. I should so like to sketch it.
It would be a study for the picture I am thinking of of the Reign of
Terror."

"I have caught them in my patent burglar trap," said Haw. "They are my
first birds, but I have no doubt that they will not be the last. I will
show you how it works. It is quite a new thing. This flooring is now
as strong as possible, but every night I disconnect it. It is done
simultaneously by a central machine for every room on the grou