There was no answer.
Producing his skeleton keys, he easily mastered the lock.
It was only a bedroom. There was but little furniture.
On the top of a chiffonier was Alice's picture in an elaborate gilt frame, which did not bear out the doctor's assurance that he had got over being love-sick.
Without losing an instant the old detective opened the drawers of this chiffonier and began disturbing things as little as possible.
It was not until the lower drawer was reached that he found anything to interest him.
The first was a bunch of three letters fastened by a rubber band.
There were other letters, some in Japanese and some in Chinese.
These, however, were in English, and when Old King Brady caught the signature, "R. Volckman," he knew that he had made a discovery.
This letter was brief enough. It read: