Near the curtained doorway he found the electric switch which regulated the light.

As the cluster of lamps flashed up, he looked for the documents.

They were gone.
His jaw snapped viciously as he leaped out of the room and groped his way to the head of the basement stairs.

By the aid of matches he achieved a safe passage down the narrow steps, at the bottom of which he found the button which switched on the basement lights.
In the rear room he found precisely what he had expected.

The door opening into the yard was unlatched.