It was at this juncture that Tommy lost his head.  What he ought to have done, what any sane man would have done, was to remain patiently where he was and wait for his man to come out again.  What he did do was entirely foreign to the sober common sense which was, as a rule, his leading characteristic.  Something, as he expressed it, seemed to snap in his brain.  Without a moment’s pause for reflection he, too, went up the steps, and reproduced as far as he was able the peculiar knock.

The door swung open with the same promptness as before.  A villainous-faced man with close-cropped hair stood in the doorway.

“Well?” he grunted.

It was at that moment that the full realization of his folly began to come home to Tommy.  But he dared not hesitate.  He seized at the first words that came into his mind.

“Mr. Brown?” he said.

To his surprise the man stood aside.

“Upstairs,” he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, “second door on your left.”

CHAPTER VIII

THE ADVENTURES OF TOMMY

Taken aback though he was by the man’s words, Tommy did not hesitate.  If audacity had successfully carried him so far, it was to be hoped it would carry him yet farther.  He quietly passed into the house and mounted the ramshackle staircase.  Everything in the house was filthy beyond words.  The grimy paper, of a pattern now indistinguishable, hung in loose festoons from the wall.  In every angle was a grey mass of cobweb.

Tommy proceeded leisurely.  By the time he reached the bend of the staircase, he had heard the man below disappear into a back room.  Clearly no suspicion attached to him as yet.  To come to the house and ask for “Mr. Brown” appeared indeed to be a reasonable and natural proceeding.

At the top of the stairs Tommy halted to consider his next move.  In front of him ran a narrow passage, with doors opening on either side of it.  From the one nearest him on the left came a low murmur of voices.  It was this room which he had been directed to enter.  But what held his glance fascinated was a small recess immediately on his right, half concealed by a torn velvet curtain.  It was directly opposite the left-handed door and, owing to its angle, it also commanded a good view of the upper part of the staircase.  As a hiding-place for one or, at a pinch, two men, it was ideal, being about two feet deep and three feet wide.  It attracted Tommy mightily.  He thought things over in his usual slow and steady way, deciding that the mention of “Mr. Brown” was not a request for an individual, but in all probability a password used by the gang.  His lucky use of it had gained him admission.  So far he had aroused no suspicion.  But he must decide quickly on his next step.