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be some architectural secret about the old manor-house of the Oatviles. And perhaps in this case they ran to a secret passage."

"Reeves, my boy," said Gordon, "you'll have to keep this dark, or they'll be putting up the rent of your rooms."

Reeves still seemed a little dissatisfied. "But surely, Carmichael, while we were about it we could have kept watch in the room itself, and seen where the hiding-place is, and who comes out of it."

"We could have tried. But tell me: how much of our conversation does this gentleman overhear? And whereabouts in your room could you have hidden with any safety? Honestly, I don't believe he would have come out except while he knew that you and Gordon were busy watching the wrong side of the door."

"You're assuming, of course, that he can't have got in at the door by a duplicate key after Reeves and I went to bed?"

"I am not assuming that, I know it. I took the liberty of putting a bit of that useful chewing-gum across the lock of the door, and it was still undisturbed in the morning. Whereas the chewing-gum which stretched between the chairs had been ploughed up in every direction."

"As it is, though, we've still got to find the entrance to the passage."

"As you say. I thought we might spend a happy morning looking for it. Let's see, there is a piano in your rooms; do you play it?"