I have to be very careful about the quality of the lead, for, of course, every impurity is reproduced in the gold." A heavy iron door led into the inner chamber.

Haw unlocked it, but only to disclose a second one about five feet further on.
"This flooring is all disconnected at night," he remarked.

"I have no doubt that there is a good deal of gossip in the servants'-hall about this sealed chamber, so I have to guard myself against some inquisitive ostler or too adventurous butler." The inner door admitted them into the laboratory, a high, bare, whitewashed room with a glass roof.

At one end was the furnace and boiler, the iron mouth of which was closed, though the fierce red light beat through the cracks, and a dull roar sounded through the building.
On either side innumerable huge Leyden jars stood ranged in rows, tier topping tier, while above them were columns of Voltaic cells.

Robert's eyes, as he glanced around, lit on vast wheels, complicated networks of wire, stands, test-tubes, coloured bottles, graduated glasses, Bunsen burners, porcelain insulators, and all the varied _debris_ of a chemical and electrical workshop.
"Come across here," said Raffles Haw, picking his way among the heaps of metal, the coke, the packing-cases, and the carboys of acid.