"Nothing doing," he said. He was not able to fit a clapper to the bell.
"But I thought you kept electric supplies here," objected
Trotter.
The other man smiled. His good nature was impregnable.
"Oh, I can get it, if you've got to have it. Come back about ten to-morrow."
"All right," was Trotter's indifferent answer, as he turned languidly away. He went up the steps with equal languor, humming as he went.
IV
Trotter kept guarded watch on "J. Heeney's" plumbing establishment. He watched it like a hungry cat watching a rat hole. And it was three hours later that he had the satisfaction of seeing the plumber ascend to the street and walk hurriedly westward. Trotter could see that he carried a kit of tools under his arm. But to follow him in open daylight was too great a risk. Instead of that, he went down the narrow steps, and through the dusty glass examined the doorlock.
Fifteen minutes later he went down another flight of basement steps, this time to the cellar of a Sixth Avenue locksmith.
"I've got a closet door locked shut on me," he explained. "And I want a key to get it open."
The locksmith looked him up and dow.n He seemed respectable enough, this mild-eyed youth with the locked closet.