The newcomer, however, evidently failed to hear Wink's protest, for, closing the window behind him in a stealthy manner, he crossed the further end of the library and paused beside a huge stone fireplace.

Wink and Ossie had dropped to the protecting darkness of a big table, but Perry still peered, crouching, from behind the chair.

In the dim light of an electric lamp the intruder's face had shown for an instant, and in that instant Perry had sensed it all! The stealthy manner of the man's entrance from the terrace instead of by the door, the plainly furtive way in which he crossed the room and the anxious expression of his face, a face which Perry saw at once to be criminal, was enough! The watcher was not in the least surprised when the man, hurriedly and still stealthily, drew out a square of mahogany paneling at the left of the fireplace and revealed the front of a small safe.
Perry's heart began to thump agitatedly at the thought of witnessing a robbery.

The man's fingers worked deftly at the knob.

Perry could hear in the silence the click of the tumblers as they slid into place.