an inside breast pocket of his coat, nor did he touch

another article therein or thereon, nor hesitate an in-

stant in the selection of the drawer to be rifled. His

knowledge of the apartment of the daughter of the

house of Prim was little short of uncanny. Doubtless the

fellow was some plumber's apprentice who had made

good use of an opportunity to study the lay of the land

against a contemplated invasion of these holy pre-

cincts.

But even the most expert of second story men nod

and now that all seemed as though running on greased

rails a careless elbow raked a silver candle-stick from

the dressing table to the floor where it crashed with a

resounding din that sent cold shivers up the youth's

spine and conjured in his mind a sudden onslaught of

investigators from the floor below.

The noise of the falling candlestick sounded to the

taut nerved house-breaker as might the explosion of a

stick of dynamite during prayer in a meeting house.

That all Oakdale had heard it seemed quite possible,

while that those below stairs were already turning ques-

tioning ears, and probably inquisitive footsteps, upward

was almost a foregone conclusion.

Adjoining Miss Prim's boudoir was her bath and be-

fore the door leading from the one to the other was a

cretonne covered screen behind which the burglar now

concealed himself the while he listened in rigid appre-

hension for the approach of the enemy; but the only

sound that came to him from the floor below was the

deep laugh of Jonas Prim. A profound sigh of relief es-

caped the beardless lips; for that laugh assured the

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