The investigation which the apparatus had gone through had probably disarranged the wires.

With a shrug he was moving off, when he suddenly made a hurried gesture, directing the attention of the expert to a fact for which neither of them was prepared.

The opening which led into the antechamber, and which was the sole means of communication with the rest of the house, was slowly closing.

From a yard's breadth it became a foot; from a foot it became an inch; from an inch---- "Well, that is certainly the contrivance of a lazy man," laughed the expert.

"Seated in his chair here, he can close his door at will.