ble, he rushed
frantically toward the young girl's sleeping-chamber, leaving Satan
Laczi alone in his room.

Since he had ceased guarding Marie's door at night by sleeping on the
lounge in her room, he had cautioned her to lock the door before
retiring. Now he found the door open.

Breathless with fear, the count sprang toward the alcove and flung back
the bed-curtains. The little maid was sleeping peacefully, her face
resting against her arm. Her favorite cat was lying at her feet, and on
the floor by the bedside lay the two pugs. But the door of the
wall-cupboard in which was hidden the steel casket stood wide open, and
on the casket was a singular toy--a miniature human figure turning a
spinning-wheel.

For an instant Count Vavel's heart ceased beating. Here was sufficient
proof that the maid, together with the steel casket, might have been
carried away during his absence.

He took the curious image, which was molded of black bread, and returned
to his room.

As he crossed the threshold, Satan Laczi pointed to the toy and said:

"I left it on the casket as a remembrance in exchange for the little
stockings some one in this house knit for my little lad. We learn to
make such things in prison, where time hangs heavily on one's hands."

"But how did you manage to open the door when it was locked and the key
inside?" inquired the count.

Satan Laczi showed him the tools which he used to turn keys from the
outside.

"Any burglar can open a door from the outside if the key is left in the
lock, Herr Count. Only those doors can be securely locked which have no
keyholes outside."

"I have no idea how that could be arranged," said Count Vavel.

"I am acquainted with a jack of all trades here in the neighborhood who
could make such a door for you if I told him how to make it. He is a
carpenter, locksmith, and clock-maker, all in one person."

The count shook his head wonderingly. The robber was to direct the
locksmith how to fashion a lock that no one could open!

"Shall I send the man to the castle?" asked Satan Laczi.

"Yes; if the fellow is sensible, and does not chatter."

"But he is a fool that never knows when to stop talking. But he talks
only on one subject, so you need not be afraid to employ him. He
understands everything you tell him, will do just as you say, but will
not talk about what he is doing for you. There is only one subject on
which he will chatter, and that is, how Napoleon might be beat