"Please watch me," proceeded the old lady.
She placed her finger on a certain part of the pattern of the wall paper beneath, and the whole of that part of the pattern swung forward; behind was a safe, apparently of steel, evidently a piece of foreign workmanship.
"Please place the key in the lock, and turn it," she asked, "but do not open the safe."
I regarded her proceedings with much interest, and rose from my chair and did as she asked.
"Thank you," she said, when she heard the lock click and the bolts shoot back, "now will you lock it again?"
I did so.
"Now please put the key in your pocket, and take care of it for me. I give you full authority to open that safe again in case of necessity."
"What necessity?" I asked.
"You will discover that in due course," she answered.
This was about the last thing I should have expected her to ask, but nevertheless I did as she told me and put the key in my pocket.