man, stepped out, peered around, locked the door behind
him, and scuffled down the street.

Rhoda Gray scanned the dingy and ill-lighted little street. It was
virtually deserted. She crossed the road, and stepped into the doorway
from which the old "fence" had just emerged. It was dark here, well out
of the direct radius of the nearest street lamp, and, with luck, there
was no reason why she should be observed--if she did not take too long
in opening the door! She had never actually used a skeleton key in her
life before, and...

She inserted one of her collection of keys in the lock. It would not
work. She tried another, and still another-with mounting anxiety and
perplexity. Suppose that--yes! The door was open now! With a quick
glance over her shoulder, scanning the street in both directions to make
sure that she was not observed, she stepped inside, closed the door, and
locked it again.

Her flashlight stabbed through the darkness. Narrow stairs immediately
in front of her led upward; at her right was a connecting door to the
secondhand shop. Without an instant's hesitation she ran up the stairs.
There was no need to observe caution since the place was temporarily
untenanted; there was need only of haste. She opened the door at the
head of the stairs, and, with a quick, eager nod of satisfaction, as the
flashlight swept the interior, stepped over the threshold. It was the
room she sought--old Luertz's bedroom.

And now the flashlight played inquisitively about her. The bed occupied
a position by the window; across one corner of the room was a cretonne
hanging, that evidently did service as a wardrobe; across another corner
was a large and dilapidated washstand; there were a few chairs, and a
threadbare carpet; and, opposite the bed, another door, closed, which
obviously led into the front room.

Rhoda Gray stepped to this door, opened it, and peered in. She was not
concerned that it was evidently used for kitchen, dining-room and
the stowage of everything that overflowed from the bedroom; she was
concerned only with the fact that it offered no avenue through which
any added risk or danger might reach her. She closed the door as she
had found it, and gave her attention now to the walls of old Luertz's
bedroom.

She smiled a little whimsically. The Crab had used a somewhat dignified
term when he had referred to "panels." True, the walls were of stained
wood, but the wood was of the cheapest variety of matched