"What man?" asked Madge.
Turning, she saw.
CHAPTER XIV
[THE CAUSE OF THE INTERRUPTION]
What she saw, and what they saw, spoke eloquently of the engrossed attention with which they had watched the work of destruction being carried on. So absorbed had they been in Bruce Graham's proceedings that, actually without their knowledge, a burglarious entry had been all but effected into the very room in which they were.
There was the proof before them.
The window had been raised, the blind and curtains pushed away, and a man's head and shoulders thrust inside.
When Ella's exclamation called their attention to the intruder's presence, they stared at him, as well they might, for a moment or two with stupefied amazement; the impudence of the act seemed almost to surpass the bounds of credibility. He, on his part, met their gaze with a degree of fortitude, not to say assurance, which was more than a little surprising.
To the fellow's character his looks bore evidence. The buttoning of his coat up to his chin failed to conceal the fact that his neck was bare, while the crushing of a dilapidated billycock down over his eyes served to throw into clearer relief his unshaven cheeks and hungry-looking eyes.
For the space of perhaps thirty seconds they looked at him, and he at them, in silence. Then Jack moved hastily forward.