is voice rang out; "it's empty--save
for dust and cobwebs, there 's nothing in it."

"Nevertheless I have a fancy to explore it," returned I; and I opened
the door.

A narrow passage was disclosed, across which was another door. Both
swung open noiselessly, a circumstance which struck me, in view of the
fact that the conservatory was empty and unused, as being rather odd;
and as I closed the second door behind me, I turned round as if to make
sure the latch had caught.

The hinges had been freshly oiled.

A bay of glass, semi-opaque with dirt, occupied the space of the outer
wall, and the glare from the dazzling snow outside brought out the
whole interior with a sort of brutal vividness. A number of
water-stained shelves; a few shallow boxes disintegrating and
distributing their contents of earth over the floor; one or two crisp,
brown, desiccated plant-stalks: such was the interior of this apartment
set aside and dedicated to flowers and bright growing things.

And it had been used infrequently as a passageway, too. In the dust on
the floor were footprints; some of them old, where later dust had
settled, without quite obliterating them; some fresh, as if made but an
hour ago.

As I came up to the next door I observed that its hinges had also been
freshly lubricated, and was not surprised when it opened without a
sound. When I stepped through it, I was in the curtained alcove off
the library. Truly, there had been some secret, surreptitious
flittings in this old mansion.

At that moment, in my abstraction, I was humming a little tune. I
heard Stodger jovially speeding the departing reporters; and after the
outside door closed behind the last of them, I shouted for him to enter
the library. Our eyes met, and I indicated the secretary by the
faintest of signs.

"Mr. Burke," said I, quietly, "will you please wait with Mr. Stodger
while I have a few words with Mr. Maillot?"

The blank, pale face was turned briefly toward me--or Maillot--then the
man bowed without a word, and followed Stodger. He paused an instant
at the door, and looked across his shoulder at Maillot; enigma that he
was, I nevertheless again caught a triumphant gleam in the tawny eyes.
Then he passed on.

The fire on the wide hearth had been replenished during our round of
the rooms; it was now blazing cheerily and doing its best to drive out
the chill and the damp from the library; and it was a relief to get
back to the easy leather c