The next instant, with a leap like that of a wild beast, he reached the threshold, examined the bolt with vivid glance and searching fingers, then raised his hand to his forehead with a gesture of utter distraction. Nothing had been disturbed. Even the check-pin which he had inserted over the bar for additional security was in place. The only other possible means of entrance was by a window at the other extreme of the room. But this was not to be considered, for it opened, with sheer precipitation, upon the unrelieved front of the house. The windows adjacent were removed at a distance which could afford no possible basis from which to reach the one from which Raikes glared so grimly. Moreover, the shutters had been clasped and the inner sash secured. The conclusion was inevitable. No one had entered the room during the night. It was impossible for a stranger to have access to the apartment during the day unobserved, and the recess behind the radiator was known to himself alone. Nevertheless there was the absurd substitution. It was incredible! The secret repository was of his own construction. The room was secure against intrusion. And opposed to all this the incontrovertible proof of his loss, a catastrophe all the more agonizing since the logic of the situation obliged him to eliminate any one from suspicion. Raikes had always considered a loss of this character the climax of malignant fate. He had never been able to contemplate it without the mortal shudder which usually communicates its chill to a loving parent confronted with the prospect of the departure of a dear one. The recess in the wall contained all that Raikes held dear in the world; every spasm of fear, each contraction of the heart, always began and concluded with the button which moved its protecting bolts. But now a new element added its ugly emphasis; there was something supernatural about the episode. Convinced of the impossibility of thievery in any of its ordinary forms, he was bewildered as to the inexplicable means of his present predicament. His sense of security was shaken. He promised himself to stand guard over his belongings jealously that day, and to make assurance doubly sure at night. In the meantime Raikes decided to confide his misfortune to no one. There was a meager possibility that the guilty one might be misled by his silence; he had heard of such cases; he had known of the culprit offering condolences to the silent victim on the assumption that the latter had discussed his mishap with others. He would wait, and with Raikes to determine was to do.