And broke open some thoroughly unsecured doors.

For booty they hunted below and on high—

But naught could they find save a chunk of cold veal,

Till, down in the basement, they chanced to espy,

Near the back-kitchen sink a huge trapdoor of steel.

In a second the trap from its fastness they tore,

When, heaped up pell-mell, of all shapes and all sizes,

The gratified Peers beheld score upon score

Of grand and legitimate housebreakers' prizes,—

Tiaras of rubies and diamond rivières,