[CHAPTER III.]
CAPTURED.
AT the open door of the office Alf paused; the room was empty and dark, but in the corner stood the safe, still apparently fast locked; so at least the key had not been found.
All the other lower rooms had been overhauled and looted, everything valuable having been carried away, unless indeed it had proved too big to be handled.
Alf then went upstairs, but there seemed to be no one anywhere. Even the servants' rooms were empty, their cupboards and drawers open, and garments scattered about, as though they had dressed in great fear and haste.
Last of all, he went to the nursery. By this time the horrible silence of the house was getting upon the boy's nerves, and for the first time he felt his courage giving way, as he stood in the dear familiar room, now so lonely and deserted.
He turned and was about to descend the stairs again, when he fancied he heard a little sound somewhere close by.
"Anyone here?" he called, with a shudder at the sound of his own voice.
Then the door of a big wall-cupboard opened softly, and Bert's fair head and white face appeared.
In an instant the boys were locked in a close embrace, and for a minute or two neither could say a word. But at last Alf mastered his feelings and began to question Bert, learning from him that the workmen had come to the house in force, and had gone all over it, making a great noise and alarming him greatly.