‘Be vigilant and quiet.’
‘I will, Captain.’
‘And don’t stir from this spot.’
‘Trust me for that. I will sit down on the top stair here.’
Not a sound came from whoever slept in that apartment, and Blodget congratulated himself upon having got so far without his giving the smallest possible alarm.
Passing his arm through the little hole in the door, now, he carefully lifted the night-bolt, and the door was, in a moment, open.
‘It is done,’ thought he.
As he now paused for a moment he took a half mask of black crape from his pocket and put it over his face, so that he was effectually disguised and then he stepped back to the stair head where he had left his assistant, Ben.
Ben was still sitting on the topmost stair, and leaning forward to catch any sounds that might come from the lower part of the mansion.
Blodget placed his hand upon Ben’s shoulder, and whispered in his ear the one word—