himself. I don't know but I approve of this contrivance, only----" here
he caught a rather serious expression on Mr. Gryce's face--"the slide
seems to be of a somewhat curious construction. It is not made of wood,
as any sensible door ought to be, but of----"

"Steel," finished Mr. Gryce in an odd tone. "This is the strangest thing
yet. It begins to look as if Mr. Adams was daft on electrical
contrivances."

"And as if we were prisoners here," supplemented the other. "I do not
see any means for drawing this slide back."

"Oh, there's another button for that, of course," Mr. Gryce carelessly
remarked.

But they failed to find one.

"If you don't object," observed Mr. Gryce, after five minutes of useless
search, "I will turn a more cheerful light upon the scene. Yellow does
not seem to fit the occasion."

"Give us rose, for unless you have some one on the other side of this
steel plate, we seem likely to remain here till morning."

"There is a man upstairs whom we may perhaps make hear, but what does
this contrivance portend? It has a serious look to me, when you consider
that every window in these two rooms has been built up almost under the
roof."

"Yes; a very strange look. But before engaging in its consideration I