Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION. 113
objects with Avhich the floor was littered. Here were
the locks of dismounted pistols ; clocks and clockwork
in every stage of demolition, some still busily ticking,
some reduced to their dainty elements ; a great company
of carboys, jars and bottles ; a carpenter's bench and a
laboratory-table.
The back drawing-room, to which Somerset pro-
ceeded, had likewise undergone a change. It was trans-
formed to the exact appearance of a common lodging-
house bedroom ; a bed with green curtains occupied one
corner ; and the window was blocked by the regulation
table and mirror. The door of a small closet here attracted
the young man's attention ; and striking a vesta, he opened
it and entered. On a table, several wigs and beards were
lying spread ; about the walls hung an incongruous dis-
play of suits and overcoats ; and conspicuous among the
last the young man observed a large overall of the most
costly sealskin. In a flash his mind reverted to the
advertisement in the ' Standard ' newspaper. The great
height of his lodger, the disproportionate breadth of his
shoulders, and the strange particulars of his instalment,
all pointed to the same conclusion.
The vesta had now burned to his fingers ; and taking
the coat upon his arm, Somerset hastily returned to the
lighted drawing-room. There, with a mixture of fear and
admiration, he pored upon its goodly proportions and
the regularity and softness of the pile. The sight of a
large pier-glass put another fancy in his head. He
donned the fur coat ; and standing before the mirror in
an attitude suggestive of a Russian prince, he thrust
his hands into the ample pockets. There his fingers
encountered a folded journal. He drew it out, and
recognised the type and paper of the ' Standard ; ' and
at the same instant, his eyes alighted on the ofler of
two hundred pounds. Plainly then, his lodger, now no
longer mysterious, had laid aside his coat on the very
day of the appearance of the advertisement.
He was thus standing, the tell-tale coat upon his
back, the incriminating paper in his hand, when the
door opened and the tall lodger, with a firm but some-
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