ew a key from his pocket and fitted
it in the lock. There was a resistance when he tried to turn it that he
did not understand. Stooping down, he suddenly tried the handle. It
opened smoothly. The gate was unlocked. He withdrew the key with
trembling fingers. All his relief at the dismantled appearance of the
cottage had disappeared. A strange unquiet look shone in his eyes, and
his manner suddenly became nervous and hurried. He had locked the gate
on his departure, he was sure, and Mr. Thurwell's steward had told him
that there was no duplicate set of keys. How could it have been opened
save with a skeleton key.

He walked quickly up the path to the front door. Here a greater shock
still awaited him. The latch-key which he held ready in his hand was not
needed. He tried the handle, and the door opened.

Mr. Brown grew white to the lips, and he shrank back as though afraid
or reluctant to enter the house. The door stood ajar. He pushed it open
with his stick, and peered in upon the darkness. Everything was silent
as the grave. He listened for a moment, and then, his natural courage
returning, he stepped inside, and closed the door after him. The
shutting out of the few gleams of daylight which lingered in the sky
left him in utter darkness. Fumbling in his pocket, he produced a wax
candle wrapped in a piece of newspaper, and a box of matches, one of
which he carefully struck.

At first the gloom seemed too profound to be dispersed by the feeble
flickering light, but gradually, as his eyes became accustomed to it, he
began to distinguish the more familiar objects. Half fearfully he
glanced towards the door on the right-hand side. It stood half open.
There was no longer room for any doubt. The house had been opened during
his absence.

The full realization of any disaster often brings with it a calm which,
to all outward appearance, contrasts favorably with the prior state of
anxiety. This appeared to be the case with Mr. Bernard Brown. His
entrance to the house had been hesitating and anxious, but as soon as he
was convinced that what he dreamed had really come to pass, his
nervousness seemed to fall away from him, and he was his old self again,
calm and resolute. Holding the flickering candle high above his head, he
moved steadily forward into the room on the right-hand side of the
entrance.

Everything here was exactly as he had left it. The cases filled with
books, some half emptied, some untouched, still lay ab