lighting matches furiously to discover what was there.

"Look, Walter," he exclaimed, holding a match so that I could see
what he had unearthed. There, in a corner concealed by an old
chest of drawers, stood a battery of five storage-cells connected
with an instrument that looked very much like a telephone
transmitter, a rheostat, and a small transformer coil.

"I suppose this is a direct-current lighting circuit," he
remarked, thoughtfully regarding his find. "I think I know what
this is, all right. Any amateur could do it, with a little
knowledge of electricity and a source of direct current. The thing
is easily constructed, the materials are common, and a wonderfully
complicated result can be obtained. What's this?"

He had continued to poke about in the darkness as he was speaking.
In another corner he had discovered two ordinary telephone
receivers.

"Connected up with something, too, by George!" he ejaculated.

Evidently some one had tapped the regular telephone wires running
into the house, had run extensions into the little storeroom, and
was prepared to overhear everything that was said either to or by
those in the house.

Further examination disclosed that there were two separate
telephone systems running into Brixton's house. One, with its many
extensions, was used by the household and by the housekeeper; the
other was the private wire which led, ultimately, down into