The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-05
CHAPTER vi.

1t was less than an hour later
when Kestner turned casually in
at the Indiana sandstone front of
q cheaply ornate house not. far
from Fifth Avenue, glanced up at
its heavily curtained windows,
and slipped pass-key into the
lock. Then he swung open the
vestibule door, a weighty combi-
nation of plate-glass faced by a
grill-work of wrought-iron and
backed by a panel curtain of
brocaded red silk. He did this
calmly and quietly, yet he
breathed a little easier when once
he had found the entire front of
the house was in darkness.
Once inside, he came to q stop
and took out his pocket flash
light. Then he stood for a min
ute or two, listening intently,
with that abnormal nervous per-
captivity which is common to the
hunted and frequently acquired
by the hunter. Once assured by
those over-sensitized aural nerves
that he was momentarily safe
from interruptions, he proceeded
to explore his immediate sur
roundings. He did this cautious
~, probing with his narrow
light-shaft into the gloom as
delicately as a cooks broom
straw probes. a rising cake.
Before him, he saw wide
hallway. The back of this hall
way was bisected by a pro-
portionately broad stairway,
mounting some eighteen or
twenty wide steps to q landing.
From this landing it branched
right and left to the floor above.
At the back of the landing stood
& huge grandfather's clock and
on pedestals at either side of it
were two suits of what looked
like fifteenth-century armour. The
polished metal of these two suits,
as obviously factory-made as the
clock. threw back Kestner's in
terrogative flash in scattered
pencils of light.
Brief as that survey of the
place was, 1t proved sufficient to
convey to the trespasser a con.
viction of the general shoddiness
of its grandeur. From the rug
on which he stood to the indi-
rect-lighting aIabaster-basin, sus-
pended on gilded links, it i'm
pressed Kestner as being shoddy,
as being meretricious in its splen-
doris.
He did not wait, however, to
cogitate long over this impress
sion. He made his way straight
to the stairs, circled about to the
right. and under a velour por-
there found a pair of doors, stained
to look like mahogany. These
doors were locked. A minute or
two with his "spider," however,
soon had them open. And he
was rewarded by the sight of the
steel front of the bond-safe he
had expected there.
So without more ado, he pushed
back the pine doors flat against
the wall, shut off his pocket
flashlight, and let the velour
drapery fall into place behind
him. There. with his straining ear
against the japanned steel sur
face, he set to work on the safe
combination.
He worked for a quarter of an
hour, quite without success. Then
he changed his position, dropped
on his knee again, and once more
took up the contest between a
mechanism of obdurate steel
wards and dials, on the one hand,
and a long-trained and super
sensitised ear on the other. But
q half hour had slipped away be.
fore he had conquered the COM
bination.
He sighed with relief as the
plungers slid back, in response
to his pressure on the nickeled
handle. He rose to his feet,
swung open the heavy door, and
again switched on his flashlight.
Then he proceeded to search the
safe.
The contents of that carefully
concealed vault were eminently
disappointing. There were a mum.
Der of guide-books and passports
end railway-maps, revealing the
innocent fact that the gentleman
from Saginaw was a surprisingly
extensive and an apparently un-
wearied traveller. There was a
canvas bag of French gold, and