lar, is there not!" he asked in a strained voice.

"That was bricked up when Mr. Kara took the house," explained the woman.

"There is nothing more to look for here," he said.

He walked slowly up the stairs to the library, his mind in a whirl. That
he, an accredited officer of police, sworn to the business of criminal
detection, should attempt to screen one who was conceivably a criminal
was inexplicable. But if the girl had committed this crime, how had she
reached Kara's room and why had she returned to the locked cellar!

He sent for Mrs. Beale to interrogate her. She had heard nothing and
she had been in the kitchen all the evening. One fact she did reveal,
however, that Fisher had gone from the kitchen and had been absent a
quarter of an hour and had returned a little agitated.

"Stay here," said T. X., and went down again to the cellar to make a
further search.

"Probably there is some way out of this subterranean jail," he thought
and a diligent search of the room soon revealed it.

He found the iron trap, pulled it open, and slipped down the stairs. He,
too, was puzzled by the luxurious character of the vault. He passed from
room to room and finally came to the inner chamber where a light was
burning.

The light, as he discovered, proceeded from a small reading lamp which
stood by the side of a small brass bedstead. The bed had recently been
slept in, but there was no sign of any occupant. T. X. conducted a very
careful search and had no difficulty in finding the bricked up door.
Other exits there were none.

The floor was of wood block laid on concrete, the ventilation was
excellent and in one of the recesses which had evidently held at so
time or other, a large wine bin, there was a prefect electrical cooking
plant. In a small larder were a number of baskets, bearing the name of
a well-known caterer, one of them containing an excellent assortment of
cold and potted meats, preserves, etc.

T. X. went back to the bedroom and took the little lamp from the table
by the side of the bed and began a more careful examination. Presently
he found traces of blood, and followed an irregular trail to the outer
room. He lost it suddenly at the foot of stairs leading down from the
upper cellar. Then he struck it again. He had reached the end of his
electric cord and was now depending upon an electric torch he had taken
from his pocket.

There were indications of something heavy having been dragged across the
ro