disembowelled, and its excelsior stuffing strewn broadcast.

"This place looks as though it had been robbed!" whispered Vaux.
"What the deuce do you suppose has happened?"

They moved cautiously to the connecting-door of the room in the
rear. The lamplight partly illuminated it, revealing it as a
bedroom.

Bedclothes trailed to the floor, which also was littered with dingy
masculine apparel flung about at random. Pockets of trousers and of
coats had been turned inside out, in what apparently had been a
hasty and frantic search.

The remainder of the room was in disorder, too; underwear had been
pulled from dresser and bureau; the built-in wardrobe doors swung
ajar and the clothing lay scattered about, every pocket turned
inside out.

"For heaven's sake," muttered Vaux, "what do you suppose this
means?"

"Look!" she whispered, clutching his arm and pointing to the
fireplace at their feet.

On the white-tiled hearth in front of the unlighted gas-logs lay the
stump of a cigar.

From it curled a thin thread of smoke.