That estimable gentleman had no sooner closed the door carefully than he rushed upstairs and into all the rooms, in order to discover which were the apartments lately occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
A cursory inspection of the first floor satisfied him that he need go no further.
He had little time to lose, for Miss Duck might be back in a few minutes, Mrs. Smith had informed him, and Mr. Preene particularly wished to conclude his business, and retire without any tiresome explanations.
He looked about the room, then pulled a small parcel from his pocket, undid it, and proceeded to secrete the contents about the room.
Under the squab of the sofa he placed three of the blank cheques from the book so mysteriously lost by Limpet, junior. In a box in the bed-room, under some clothes, he hid a roll of sham bank-notes. In an old waistcoat of George’s, hanging behind the door, he placed a rouleau of spurious sovereigns; and in the cupboard, hidden away behind some boots, he left a small brown-paper parcel containing a portion of the stock-in-trade of a professional forger.
Having paid the absent tenants these delicate attentions, he left a few more souvenirs of his visit and then hurried downstairs, and, pulling the front door gently to, walked rapidly away.
A quarter of an hour later, when Miss Duck returned and let herself in with the latchkey, the house was empty.
Miss Georgina had purchased a bargain at the linendraper’s, and, Mrs. Smith being an authority on bargains, Georgina ran upstairs to display her purchase and ask Mrs. Smith’s opinion.
She knocked at the door, and, receiving no answer, opened it, and stepped in.
The rooms were empty.