If there's any trouble with the chimney, why, we'll get a bricklayer
and pull it down."

"Miss Killigrew may have some real cause for alarm. I saw a man, or
rather, I heard him, running, as I came up the road from the gates. I
called to him, but he did not answer."

"Is that so? Wasn't the porter at the gates when you came in?"

"No. The footpath was free."

"This begins to look serious. If the porter isn't there the gate bell
rings, I can open it myself by wire. I never bother about it at night,
unless I am expecting some one. But in the daytime I can see from here
whether or not I wish to open the gate. A man running in the park, eh?
Little good it will do him. The house is a network of burglar alarms."

"Wires can be cut and quickly repaired."

"But this is no house to rob. All my valuables, excepting these books,
are in New York. The average burglar isn't of a literary turn of mind.
Still, if Laura has really heard something, all the more reason why you
should make us a visit. Wait a moment. I've an idea." The admiral
set the burglar alarm and tried it. The expression on his face was
blank. "Am I getting deafer?"

"No bell rang," said Fitzgerald quickly.

"By cracky, if Laura is right! But not a word to her, mind. When she
goes up-stairs we'll take a trip into the cellar and have a look at the