o scrutinise every thing. Inside the walls," continued
the horrid old hag, going on with her description of the premises,
"inside the walls, trellis-work all around,--a perfect staircase; at the
left-hand corner of the wall a fir-tree, just like a ladder,--a lying-in
woman might descend by it. The house has six windows on the ground
floor, and has no upper story,--six small windows without any fastening.
The windows of the ground floor close with shutters, having hooks below
and staples in the upper part: press in the bottom, use your steel
file--"

"A push," said the Schoolmaster, "and it is open."

The Chouette continued:

"The entrance has a glass door, two Venetian blinds outside--"

"Memorandum," said the ruffian.

"Quite correct; it is as precise as if we saw it," said Rodolph.

"On the left," resumed the Chouette, "near the courtyard, is a well; the
rope may be useful (for at that particular spot there is no trellis
against the wall), in case retreat should be cut off in the direction of
the door. On entering into the house--"

"You got inside the house, then? Young man, she got inside the house!"
said the Schoolmaster, with pride.

"To be sure I got in! Not finding Cocotte, I had made so much
lamentation that I pretended I was quite out of breath; I begged the
porter to allow me to sit down on the step of the door, and he very
kindly asked me to step in, offering me a glass of wine and water. 'A
glass of plain water,' I said; 'plain water only, my good sir.' Then he
made me go into the antechamber,--carpeted all over; good
precaution,--footsteps or broken glass cannot be heard, if we must 'mill
the glaze' (break a pane of glass); right and left, doors with sliding
bolts, which open by a gentle push from the top. At the bottom was a
strong door, locked,--it looked very like a money-chest. I had my wax in
my basket--"

"She had her wax, young man! She never goes without her wax!" said the
brigand.

The Chouette proceeded:

"It was necessary to approach the door which smelled so strongly of the
cash, so I pretended that I was seized with a fit of coughing,--so
violent, that I was compelled to lean against the wall for support.
Hearing me cough, the porter said,'I'll fetch you a morsel of sugar to
put in your water.' He probably looked for a spoon, for I heard plate
chink,--plate in the room on the left-hand; don't forget that,
_fourline_. Well, coughing and wheezing, I reached the door at the
bottom,