'You learned nothing?'
'Nothing.'
'Then what do you want to do now?' he asked, softly rubbing his chin.
'To see the inside of it.'
'And you propose----?'
'To enter it from yours,' I answered. 'Surely you have some dormer, some trap-door, some roof-way, by which a bold man may get from this house to the next one.'
He shook his head. 'I know of none,' he said. 'But that is not all. You are asking a strange thing. I am a peaceful man, and, I hope, a good neighbour; and this which you ask me to do cannot be called neighbourly. However, I need say the less about it, because the thing cannot be done.'
'Will you let me try?' I cried.
He seemed to reflect. In the end he made a strange answer. 'What time did you call at the house?' he said.
'Perhaps an hour ago--perhaps more.'