“Break it down!” shouted Halesowen, hurling aside the Japanese screen. “_The potsherd is gone!_” Lesty applied his shoulder to the oak--once--twice--thrice. Then all together we attacked it, and it flew open with a splintering crash. “Round to his flat!” panted Halesowen, running downstairs. Out on to the drive we sprinted, into the next entrance and up to the first landing. Knocking and ringing proved ineffectual, and the door was too strong to be burst open. We stood in dismayed silence, staring at one another. “Off your balcony, on to his and through the French window!” said Lesty, suddenly; so back we all ran again. I had never before realized how easy it was to get from one balcony to another, until I saw Lesty swing himself across. Halesowen and I followed in a trice, and we all blundered into the dark room through the open window and made for the electric switch beside the mantelpiece. We turned on the light. The room was unfurnished! “Good Lord!” breathed Halesowen, hurrying into the next. That, too, was quite bare, as were all the rest! The outer door was locked. “While we were fooling at that concert, he had every scrap of stuff removed!” I said. “He probably had the lot on hire from a big furnishing firm--curios and all. I remember noticing that his curiosities were of a very ordinary character, considering his extensive travels and the nature of his studies.” “No doubt whatever,” agreed Lesty. “His burglary proved a failure (and, I think, must have been interrupted), though I am compelled to admire the neat manner in which he handled the very delicate situation that resulted. His more recent and elaborate device has turned out all that could be desired--from Zeda’s point of view!” “But how has he got away?” said Halesowen, in bewilderment. “Motor waiting at the corner,” replied Lesty, promptly. “Heard it come up. When the reading lamp was capsized, and whoever had crept from his balcony to yours and in behind the screen had returned the same way--with the vase!--Zeda overturned the table and pushed you two men backward in your chairs. Then, before I could reach him, he bolted out and locked the door after him. For, having lulled my suspicions by two practically uneventful séances, he cunningly placed himself nearest to the door and me farthest away. He probably removed the key when he went out for the box and placed it outside in the lock when he returned. His accomplice had run straight through Zeda’s flat and out to the waiting car, and there he joined her. They may be thirty miles away by now!” Being unable to open the door, we perforce returned to Halesowen’s balcony by the same way that we had come, our friend bewailing his lost potsherd and exclaiming: “The cunning, cunning scamp!”