What easier than for one of them to enter the outer door, strike a light, open the inner one and flash this light up through the house till steps or voices warned her of an aroused family, when she had only to reclose the inside door, put out the light and escape by the outer one.
But alas! at this point I remembered that this, as well as all other outside doors, had invariably been protected by bolt, and that these bolts had never been found disturbed.

Veritably I was busying myself for nothing over this old vestibule.

Yet before I left it I gave it another glance; satisfied myself that its walls were solid; in fact, built of brick like the house.

This on two sides; the door occupied the third and showed the same unbroken coat of thick, old paint, its surface barely hidden by the cabinet placed at right angles to it.

Enough of it, however, remained exposed to view to give me an opportunity of admiring its sturdy panels and its old-fashioned lock.