Breathless with fear, the count sprang toward the alcove and flung back the bed-curtains. The little maid was sleeping peacefully, her face resting against her arm. Her favorite cat was lying at her feet, and on the floor by the bedside lay the two pugs. But the door of the wall-cupboard in which was hidden the steel casket stood wide open, and on the casket was a singular toy--a miniature human figure turning a spinning-wheel. For an instant Count Vavel's heart ceased beating. Here was sufficient proof that the maid, together with the steel casket, might have been carried away during his absence. He took the curious image, which was molded of black bread, and returned to his room. As he crossed the threshold, Satan Laczi pointed to the toy and said: "I left it on the casket as a remembrance in exchange for the little stockings some one in this house knit for my little lad. We learn to make such things in prison, where time hangs heavily on one's hands." "But how did you manage to open the door when it was locked and the key inside?" inquired the count. Satan Laczi showed him the tools which he used to turn keys from the outside. "Any burglar can open a door from the outside if the key is left in the lock, Herr Count. Only those doors can be securely locked which have no keyholes outside." "I have no idea how that could be arranged," said Count Vavel. "I am acquainted with a jack of all trades here in the neighborhood who could make such a door for you if I told him how to make it. He is a carpenter, locksmith, and clock-maker, all in one person." The count shook his head wonderingly. The robber was to direct the locksmith how to fashion a lock that no one could open! "Shall I send the man to the castle?" asked Satan Laczi. "Yes; if the fellow is sensible, and does not chatter." "But he is a fool that never knows when to stop talking. But he talks only on one subject, so you need not be afraid to employ him. He understands everything you tell him, will do just as you say, but will not talk about what he is doing for you. There is only one subject on which he will chatter, and that is, how Napoleon might be beaten. He is continually talking about stratagems, infernal machines, and how to win a battle. On this subject he is crazy. He will make doors for the Herr Count that can't be opened, and tell everybody else only how to make infernal machines, and how to build fortifications." "Very good; then send him to me." "But--I must say something else, Herr Count--no matter how secure your locks may be, that treasure is best guarded against robbers which is kept in the room you sleep in. A man of courage is worth a hundred locks. I am not talking without a purpose when I say the Herr Count must look after his treasure. I know more than I say, and Satan Laczi is not the greatest robber in the world. Be on your guard!" "I thank you." "Does the Herr Count still believe that it was I and my comrades who broke into the manor?"