It was an easy matter to reach the garden without being observed, and in
a very short time the two friends were standing close to the windows of
the large room at the back of the house. There was not so much as a
glimmer of light to be seen anywhere within. Very cautiously they felt
their way along until they came at length to the grating through which
Gurdon had made so dramatic an entrance on the night before. He took
from his pocket a box of vestas, and ventured to strike one. He held it
down close to the ground, shading the tiny point of flame in the hollow
of his hand.

"Here is a bit of luck to begin with," he chuckled. "They haven't
fastened this grating up again. I suppose my escape last night must have
upset them. At any rate, here is a way into the house without running the
risk of being arrested on a charge of burglary, and if the police did
catch us we should find it an exceedingly awkward matter to frame an
excuse carefully, to satisfy a magistrate."

"That seems all right," Venner said. "When we get into the cellar it's
any odds that we find the door of the stairs locked. I don't suppose the
grating has been forgotten. You see, it is not such an easy matter to get
the British workman to do a job on the spur of the moment."

"Well, come along; we will soon ascertain that," Gurdon said. "Once down
these steps, we shall be able to use our matches."

They crept cautiously down the stairs into the damp and moldy cellar;
thence, up the steps on the other side, where Gurdon lighted one of his
matches. The door was closed, but it yielded quite easily to the touch,
and at length the two men were in the part of the house which was given
over to the use of the servants. So far as they could judge the place was