they found themselves
standing on a gravel path, green with moss and weeds, which ran round
the house--a queer, dilapidated-looking building, which seemed sadly in
want of repair: the plaster was cracked and discoloured, while the doors
and windows had long stood in need of a fresh coating of paint.

"I say," whispered Mugford, "hadn't we better go back? what if the old
chap's at home!"

"Oh, it's all right; there's nobody about," answered Jack. "Let's go on
and see what the place is really like."

They tip-toed round the building. It was evidently unoccupied, though
the delightful sense of uncertainty that at any moment some one might
pounce out upon them or walk down the drive made the questionable
adventure very charming.

"Have you ever been inside?" asked Diggory.

"No, rather not; I don't think any one has except the doctor, and an old
woman who comes in to do the house-work."

"Well, then, I'm going in," answered Diggory, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Go on! Why, you might be had up for house-breaking!"

"Rubbish! I'm not going to steal anything.--Here, Mug, lend me your
knife a minute."

"I don't believe this one's fastened," he continued, walking up to one
of the windows. "No, it isn't. Bother! I'm awfully sorry, Mugford."

Using the big blade of the clasp-knife as a lever, Diggory had just
succeeded in raising the sash the fraction of an inch, when the steel
suddenly snapped off short at the handle.

"Oh, never mind," said the owner; "let's go back now. What if we're
seen!"

"Oh, there's no fear of that," answered Jack, who was always infected
with the adventurous spirit of his chum.--"Go on, Diggy; I'll come
too."

By inserting their fingers in the aperture, the boys soon raised the
sash, and a few seconds later Diggory mounted the ledge and scrambled
through the window "Come on," he said; "the coast's all clear."

Jack Vance joined him immediately, and Mugford, not wishing to be left
alone outside, was not long in making up his mind to follow his
companions.

The room in which the three boys found themselves was evidently a
library or study. Book-shelves, and cupboards with glass doors,
containing geological and other specimens, occupied much of the wall
space; while in the centre of the floor stood a large writing-table,
covered with a miscellaneous collection of pens, ink-pots, bundles of
papers, and a polished mahogany box which could easily be recognized as
a microscope-case.