enged him.

He made a reconnaissance of the house and found the dining-room without
any difficulty. The blinds were up and the servants were setting the
table. Then he passed round to the wing of the building and discovered
the library. He actually went into that room, because it was one of Lady
Sybil's standing orders that the library should be "aired" and that the
scent of Mr. Crotin's atrocious tobacco should be cleared.

He sniffed the stale fragrance and was satisfied that this was a room
which was lived in.

If there was any real, confidential talk between the two men, it would
be here, he thought, and looked round for a likely place of concealment.
The room was innocent of cupboards. Only a big settee drawn diagonally
across a corner of the room promised cover, and that looked too
dangerous. If anybody sat there and by chance dropped something--a pipe
or an ash-tray----

He walked back to the terrace to take his bearings in case he had to
make a rapid exit. He looked round and then dropped suddenly to the
cover of the balustrade, for he had seen a dark figure moving across the
lawn, and it was coming straight for the terrace. He slipped back into
the room and as he did so he heard a step in the passage without. He
stepped lightly over to the settee and crouched down.

It was evidently a servant, for he heard the French windows closed and
the clang of the shutters. They were evidently very ordinary
folding-shutters, fastened with an old-fashioned steel bar--he made a
mental note of this. Then he heard the swish of the curtain-rings upon
the brass pole as the curtains were drawn. A dim light was switched on,
somebody poked the fire, and then the light was put out and the door
closed softly.

The intruder did some rapid thinking. He crossed to the nearest of the
windows, noiselessly opened the shutters and pushed them back to the
position in which they stood when not in use. Then he unlatched the
window and left it, hoping that it would not blow open and betray him.
This done, he again pulled the heavy curtains across and returned to
his place of concealment. That was to be the way out for him if the
necessity for a rapid retreat should arise.

There was no sound save the ticking of the clock and the noise of
falling cinders for ten minutes, and then he heard something which
brought him to the alert, all his senses awakened and concentrated. It
was the sound of a light and stealthy footstep on the terrace ou