He could not see very well, because of a
silk mask tied upon his face, and the eyeholes of which were
badly cut. From the ledge he stepped to another, perilously. He
gained it, and crouching there, where there was scarce foothold
for a cat, he managed fully to raise a window which already was
raised some six inches. Then softly and silently--for he was
bare-footed--he entered the room.
Someone slept in a bed facing the window by which he had entered,
and upon a table at the side of the sleeper lay a purse, a bunch
of keys, an electric torch, and a Service revolver. Gliding to
the table Rene took the keys and the electric torch, unlocked the
door of the room, and crept down a thickly carpeted stair to a
room below. The door of this also he opened with one of the keys
in the bunch, and by the light of the torch found his way through
a quantity of antique furniture and piled up curiosities to a
safe set in the farther wall.
He seemed, in his dream, to be familiar with the lock
combination, and, selecting the correct key from the bunch, he
soon had the safe open. The shelves within were laden
principally with antique jewellery, statuettes, medals, scarabs;
and a number of little leather-covered boxes were there also.
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