earing of this bottle on our present investigation. There doesn't seem
to be anything else of interest in this El Dorado excepting that screw,
which you notice is about the size of those with which the bolts were
fastened on the doors. I don't think it is worth while to unstop any of
the holes to try it; we should learn nothing fresh."

He rose, and, having kicked the discarded rubbish back under the grate,
gathered up his gleanings from the mantelpiece, carefully bestowing the
spectacles and the fragments of glass in the tin box that he appeared
always to carry in his pocket, and wrapping the larger objects in his
handkerchief.

"A poor collection," was his comment, as he returned the box and
handkerchief to his pocket, "and yet not so poor as I had feared.
Perhaps, if we question them closely enough, these unconsidered trifles
may be made to tell us something worth learning after all. Shall we go
into the other room?"

We passed out on to the landing and into the front room, where, guided
by experience, we made straight for the fire-place. But the little heap
of rubbish there contained nothing that even Thorndyke's inquisitive eye
could view with interest. We wandered disconsolately round the room,
peering into the empty cupboards and scanning the floor and the corners
by the skirting, without discovering a single object or relic of the
late occupants. In the course of my perambulations I halted by the
window and was looking down into the street when Thorndyke called to me
sharply:

"Come away from the window, Jervis! Have you forgotten that Mrs.
Schallibaum may be in the neighbourhood at this moment?"

As a matter of fact I had entirely forgotten the matter, nor did it now
strike me as anything but the remotest of possibilities. I replied to
that effect.

"I don't agree with you," Thorndyke rejoined. "We have heard that she
comes here to look for letters. Probably she comes every day, or even
oftener. There is a good deal at stake, remember, and they cannot feel
quite as secure as they would wish. Weiss must have seen what view you
took of the case and must have had some uneasy moments thinking of what
you might do. In fact, we may take it that the fear of you drove them
out of the neighbourhood, and that they are mighty anxious to get that
letter and cut the last link that binds them to this house."

"I suppose that is so," I agreed; "and if the lady should happen to pass
this way and should see me at the wi