Deep-toned rugs rendered footsteps soundless as they
made their way toward the wide doorway at the far end of the room. They
had traversed barely a third of the distance when a sudden sound brought
them up short.
One of the windows that opened onto the terrace further along swung
inward and a middle-aged man in evening attire stepped into the room.
Perry, in spite of his former assurance, drew back into the shadow of a
high-backed chair, stepping on Wink's foot and bringing a groan from
that youth. The newcomer, however, evidently failed to hear Wink's
protest, for, closing the window behind him in a stealthy manner, he
crossed the further end of the library and paused beside a huge stone
fireplace. Wink and Ossie had dropped to the protecting darkness of a
big table, but Perry still peered, crouching, from behind the chair. In
the dim light of an electric lamp the intruder's face had shown for an
instant, and in that instant Perry had sensed it all! The stealthy
manner of the man's entrance from the terrace instead of by the door,
the plainly furtive way in which he crossed the room and the anxious
expression of his face, a face which Perry saw at once to be criminal,
was enough! The watcher was not in the least surprised when the man,
hurriedly and still stealthily, drew out a square of mahogany paneling
at the left of the fireplace and revealed the front of a small safe.
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