"'Is that another room?' he asked, pointing to the cellar door.
"I threw it open and let him look into the dark cavity. 'That,' I said, 'is the cellar. It has a door opening into the back yard, which has a gate that opens into Bell's Alley. It might be useful. Don't you think so?'
"He did think so; very emphatically, to judge by his expression. Very useful indeed when you have knocked down an old man and rifled his safe, to have a quiet exit at the back.
"'Now tell me about this stuff,' said he. 'Have you got it here?'
"'The fact is,' I said confidentially, 'I haven't got it at all—yet' (his face fell perceptibly at this), 'but,' I added, 'I can get it when I like; when I have arranged about disposing of it.'
"'But you've got a safe to keep it in,' he protested.
"'Yes, but I don't want to have it here. Besides, that safe won't hold it all, if I take over the whole lot.'
"Piragoff's eyes fairly bulged with greed and excitement.
"'What sort of stuff is it? Silver?'
"'There is some silver,' I said, superciliously; 'a good deal, in fact. But that's hardly worth while. You see this stuff is a collection. It belongs, at present, to one of those fools who collect jewelry and church plate; monstrances, jeweled chalices and things of that kind.'