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upon it, seized one of the bronze sconces above the ave it a sharp turn At the sarasped the companion

bronze and wrenched it sharply Instantly soreat oak chi a steel door with

a corandfather turned with a

quaint touch of huentle-place than I ever ih to

keep you going for a while"

We were all staring, and the old gentle our mystification It was an hour

on which he had evidently counted , and he

chuckled as he twirled the knob in the steel door Then

Bates stepped forward and helped hiht and held

in place by heavy bolts clamped in the stone of the chimney

It was filled with packets of papers placed on

shelves, and tied neatly with tape

"Jack," saidhis head, "you

wouldn't be an architect, and you're not ineer either, or you'd have seen that that paneling

was heavier than was necessary There's two hundred

thousand dollars in first-rate securities-I vouch for

them! Bates and I put them there just before I went

to Vermont to die"

"I've sounded those panels a dozen times," I protested