ing down the
back, so as to let them out a third, or two thirds, or so. But I guess
we'll try an ice-pick first." He flings the clothes on the bed, and
touches the electric bell.
_Roberts:_ "Ice-pick?"
_Campbell:_ "Yes; nothing like it for prying open bureau drawers." To
Bella, the maid, who appears at the door in answer to his ring: "The
ice-pick, please."
_Bella:_ "Ice-pick, sir?"
_Campbell:_ "Yes. The--ice--pick--here--quick."
_Bella_, vanishing, with a gesture of wonder at the pile of clothing on
the bed: "All right, sir."
_Roberts:_ "But, Willis! Won't it bruise and deface the bureau? Agnes is
very careful of this bu--"
_Campbell:_ "Not at all. You just set the pick in here over the lock,
and pry. I sha'n't leave a scratch." They stoop down together in front
of the bureau, and Campbell shows him how. "But what are you going to
do? You've got to have your clothes if you're going to the musicale. Ah,
here we are! Thanks," as Bella comes with the ice-pick, which he pushes
in over the lock of the lowest drawer. "We'll begin with the lowest,
because that's where Amy keeps mine, and if Agnes has got onto it
through her, she'll be sure to do exactly the same. Now, then, I just
scratch the bolt down with my knife, and Open, Sesame! What do you say
to bruising your old bureau now?"
_Roberts_, as Campbell pulls out the drawer and sets it on a chair:
"Perfect! Only"--he lifts the things from the drawer, and places them on
another chair--"there don't seem to be anything here but underclothes."
_Campbell:_ "Well, then, we must get the next out. No time to lose.
Come! Keep shoving the pick in, and I'll scratch the bolt down with my
knife. See? It's nothing." They pull the drawer out and set it on the
floor, and Roberts ruefully contemplates it.
_Roberts:_ "Nothing but shirts, collars, cuffs and neckties."
_Campbell:_ "Ah, I don't know that. It's a deep drawer"--he begins
taking the linen out, and laying it on the floor--"and the dress-suit
may be at the bottom. No! Nothing here. You're right, Roberts. Well, now
for the top drawer and the last. If we'd taken that out first, we
needn't have taken out the second; we could have seen it in place. You
ought to have thought of that, Roberts."
_Roberts_, with injury: "You suggested taking out the lowest first,
yourself, Willis. You said Agnes would be sure to have put them there."
_Campbell:_ "Did I? Well, I knew I must have a reason for it. But come
along
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