lawn and mounted the steps to the verandah suggested

a familiarity with the habits and customs of the inmates

of the house upon the hill which bespoke long and care-

ful study of the contemplated job. An old timer could

not have moved with greater confidence. No detail

seemed to have escaped his cunning calculation. Though

the door leading from the verandah into the reception

hall swung wide to the balmy airs of late Spring the

prowler passed this blatant invitation to the hospitality

of the House of Prim. It was as though he knew that

from his place at the head of the table, with his back

toward the great fire place which is the pride of the

Prim dining hall, Jonas Prim commands a view of the

major portion of the reception hall.

Stooping low the youth passed along the verandah to

a window of the darkened library--a French window

which swung open without noise to his light touch. Step-

ping within he crossed the room to a door which opened

at the foot of a narrow stairway--a convenient little stair-

way which had often let the Hon. Jonas Prim to pass

from his library to his second floor bed-room unnoticed

when Mrs. Prim chanced to be entertaining the femi-

nine elite of Oakdale across the hall. A convenient little

stairway for retiring husbands and diffident burglars--

yes, indeed!

The darkness of the upper hallway offered no obstacle

to this familiar housebreaker. He passed the tempting

luxury of Mrs. Prim's boudoir, the chaste elegance of

Jonas Prim's bed-room with all the possibilities of forgot-

ten wallets and negotiable papers, setting his course

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