were carrying it upstairs; then they reappeared, with Armand
accompanying them. He tipped them and went out also to tip the driver
of the van. Then the porters climbed aboard and it rattled away out
of sight. Armand stood for a moment on the step, looking up and down
the Avenue, then disappeared indoors.

An instant later, I saw Godfrey and another man whom I recognised as
Simmonds, come out of a shop across the street and dash over to the
house into which the cabinet had been taken. They were standing on
the door-step when I joined them.

It was a dingy building, entirely typical of the dingy neighbourhood.
The ground floor was occupied by a laundry which the sign on the
front window declared to be French; and the room which the window
lighted extended the whole width of the building except for a door
which opened presumably on the stairway leading to the upper stories.

Godfrey's face was flaming with excitement as he turned the knob of
this door gently--gently. The door was locked. He stooped and applied
an eye to the key-hole.

"The key is in the lock," he whispered.

Simmonds took from his pocket a pair of slender pliers and passed
them over.

Godfrey looked up and down the street, saw that for the moment there
was no one near, inserted the pliers in the key-hole, grasped the end
of the key, and turned it slowly.