wouldn't take me the only time I've ever been here. But now that
I'm eighteen I can do just as I like; besides, Old Aunt will never
know."

Mr. Sleuth looked down at her, and a smile passed for a moment over
his worn, gaunt face.

"Yes," he said, "let us go into the Chamber of Horrors; that's a
good idea, Miss Bunting. I've always wanted to see the Chamber of
Horrors."

They turned into the great room in which the Napoleonic relics were
then kept, and which led into the curious, vault-like chamber where
waxen effigies of dead criminals stand grouped in wooden docks.

Mrs. Bunting was at once disturbed and relieved to see her husband's
old acquaintance, Mr. Hopkins, in charge of the turnstile admitting
the public to the Chamber of Horrors.

"Well, you are a stranger," the man observed genially. "I do believe
that this is the very first time I've seen you in here, Mrs. Bunting,
since you was married!"

"Yes," she said, "that is so. And this is my husband's daughter,
Daisy; I expect you've heard of her, Mr. Hopkins. And this"--she
hesitated a moment--"is our lodger, Mr. Sleuth."

But Mr. Sleuth frowned and shuffled away. Daisy, leaving her
stepmother's side, joined him.

Two, as all the world knows, is company, three is none. Mrs.
Bunting put down three sixpences.

"Wait a minute," said Hopkins; "you can't go into the Chamber of
Horrors just yet. But you won't have to wait more than four or
five minutes, Mrs. Bunting. It's this way, you see; our boss is
in there, showing a party round." He lowered his voice. "It's
Sir John Burney--I suppose you know who Sir John Burney is?"

"No," she answered indifferently, "I don't know that I ever heard
of him."

She felt slightly--oh, very sightly--uneasy about Daisy. She
would have liked her stepdaughter to keep well within sight and
sound, but Mr. Sleuth was now taking the girl down to the other
end of the room.

"Well, I hope you never will know him--not in any personal sense,
Mrs. Bunting." The man chuckled. "He's the Commissioner of Police
--the new one--that's what Sir John Burney is. One of the
gentlemen he's showing round our place is the Paris Police boss--
whose job is on all fours, so to speak, with Sir John's. The
Frenchy has brought his daughter with him, and there are several
other ladies. Ladies always likes horrors, Mrs. Bunting; that's
our experience here. 'Oh, take me to the Chamber of Horrors'--
that's what they say the minute they gets into this he