lid. He said nothing, uttered no sound, but he smiled for the first and

only time. A sheet of dull silvery metal had met his eye--the top of an inner box.

Lady McIntyre sat down in the solitary chair, as though her legs had suddenly given way.

By its two steel handles, which had fitted neatly into felt-lined sockets in the cane-and-canvas top, Grindley and Singleton lifted out the metal box. They laid it on its front. With those short, vicious hammer-strokes that seemed to shake the house, Grindley cut the hinges through. He and Singleton set the box upright and forced back the top.