wept too but now the ten minutes drew to an end the axe from under a of packing straw the candle was set upon the nearest table to light them to the attack and they drew near with breath to where that patient foot was still going up and down up and down in the quiet of the night cried with a loud voice i demand to see you he paused a moment but there came no reply i give you fair warning our suspicions are and i must and shall see you he resumed if not by fair means then by foul � if not of your consent then by brute force said the voice for god s sake have mercy ah that s not s voice � it s s cried down with the door the last night swung the axe over his shoulder the blow shook the building and the red door leaped against the lock and hinges a dismal as of mere animal terror rang from the cabinet up went the axe again and again the and the frame bounded four times the blow fell but the wood was tough and the were of excellent and it was not until the fifth that the lock burst in and the wreck of the door fell on the carpet the appalled by their own riot and the stillness that had succeeded stood back a little and peered in there lay the cabinet before their eyes in the quiet a good fire glowing and chattering on the hearth the kettle singing its thin strain a drawer or two open papers neatly set forth on the business table and nearer the fire the things laid out for tea the room you would have said and but for the glazed presses full of the most commonplace that night in london in the midst there lay the body of a man sorely and still dr and mr they drew near on turned it on its back and beheld the face of edward he was dressed in clothes far too large for him clothes of the doctor s the of his face still moved with a semblance of life but life was quite gone and by the crushed in the hand and the strong smell of that hung upon the air knew that he was looking on the body of a we have come too late he said sternly whether to save or punish is gone to his account and it only remains for us to find the body of your master the far greater proportion of the building was occupied by the theatre which filled almost the whole ground story and was lighted from above and by the cabinet which formed an upper story at one end and looked upon the court a corridor joined the theatre to the door on the and with this the cabinet communicated separately by a second flight of stairs there were besides a few dark and a spacious cellar all these they now thoroughly ex the last night each closet needed but a glance for all were empty and all by the dust that fell from their doors had stood long the cellar indeed was filled with crazy lumber mostly from the times of the surgeon who was s but even as they opened the door they were advertised of the of further search by the fall of a perfect mat of which had for years sealed up the entrance nowhere was there any trace of henry dead or alive stamped on the of the corridor he must be buried here he said to the sound or he may have fled said and he turned to examine the door in the it was locked and lying near by on the flags they found the key already stained with this does not look like use observed the lawyer use echoed do you not see sir it is broken much as if a man had stamped on it ay continued and the da and too are rusty the two men looked at each other with a scare this is beyond me said the lawyer let us go back to the cabinet they mounted the stair in silence and still with an occasional glance at the dead body proceeded more thoroughly to examine the contents of the cabinet at one table there were traces of work various measured heaps of some white salt being laid on glass as though for an experiment in which the unhappy man had been prevented that is the same that i was always bringing him said and even as he spoke the kettle with a startling noise boiled over this brought them to the fireside where the easy chair was drawn up and the tea things stood ready to the s elbow the very sugar in the cup there were several books on a shelf one lay beside the tea things open and was amazed to find it a copy of a pious work for which had several times expressed a great esteem the last night in his own hand with startling next in the course of their review of the chamber the came to the glass into whose depths they looked with an horror but it was so turned as to show them nothing but the rosy glow playing on the roof the fire sparkling in a hundred along the glazed front of the presses and their own pale and fearful countenances stooping to look in this glass have seen some strange things sir whispered and surely none stranger than itself echoed the lawyer in the same tones for what did � he caught himself up at the word with � k start and then conquering the weakness what could want with it he said tou may say that i said next they turned to the business table on the desk among the neat array of papers a large envelope was uppermost and 