The warp and woof of the cipher affair would very likely prove a tangle of many lives. Fay had not yet decided that he would go to that country north and east of London and open the strong-box in the embassy. He had not felt a call for patriotism in the enterprise.
Rather, the matter would have to shape itself. He distrusted the police and Scotland Yard from bitter experience. And now, despite his efforts to the contrary, fate or chance had brought him to the very house that Sir Richard had wanted him to prowl.
He dropped to one knee, finally. Swiftly rolling the coat into a small bundle he pressed it under a bush. Rising and listening with his senses alert, he poised upon his toes, then started toward the nearest window, which was the rear one of a huge bay.
Reaching this, after avoiding the gravel walk by stepping over it, he crouched beneath the sill and pressed his ear to the frame-work of the wall. His hearing was cell-matured and acute. The presence of anybody above him, or any movement in the house, would be instantly detected. He heard no one.
Working swiftly, he tried the window. It was locked, as he expected. Reaching upward, after pulling on a pair of gloves which had been in the pocket of the coat, he climbed by means of a vine and a ledge to the sill, where he cupped his hands and studied the lock.
It was the ordinary kind he knew so well. There was a thin-bladed knife on the end of his watch-chain. He drew this out and ran its blade between the sashes. He struck the upper sash with the palm of his hand. He pressed the lower sash and found the catch moving on stiff pivots. One more try and the lock was in the off position. He waited then, ready to spring to the ground or raise the window.
No sound came from the house. Fay bent his back, reached down with his left fingers and slowly raised
the window. The opening he made was not over a foot in height.
Stooping and grasping the sill, he thrust his feet through, turned his body and squirmed inside. He straightened swiftly and waited. Nothing happened.
Soft curtains barred his way to the room. He reached out and pressed these aside with cool fingers. The scent of a Japanese perfume greeted his keen nostrils. Within this scent was another—the faint odor of heliotrope.