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"You can't stop these chicken-hearted people from squealing," he said. "Half the servants have given me notice. And even that fat hog Wilks talks about going. I've told him, if he leaves before I'm ready for him to go, I'll sue him for breach of contract. Savini, see that all the lamps in the corridors are left alight tonight."

"Do you expect another visit?" asked Julius conversationally, and received a curse for his pains.

By daylight Bellamy had examined the doors of his room. The old-fashioned outer door could, he found, be unlocked with no difficulty at all by a man equipped with the necessary tools. The leather door, with its interior latch, seemed safe enough, and he was puzzled to account for its forcing. With a magnifying-glass he examined the leather surface carefully, thinking that he would detect some injury to the leather; but there was none. Fixed in the framework of the door, and designed to prevent the catch from rising too high, was a short iron rod, the end of which showed on the outer side. He thought at first that this might have been extracted and the latch lifted that way, but found that it was impossible. There was no transom above the door, and though Abe went over the walls of the bedroom carefully and made a thorough inspection of the ceiling, he could see nothing that would explain the mystery of that slowly opening inner door. That night he slept with his automatic on a table by the side of his bed. He woke at five o'clock in the morning to find both doors wide open and his pistol gone!