“It was necessary for me to visit the osteological dealer in the course of the morning to obtain three suitable skeletons as understudies according to my plan.  This was quite indispensable.  The dealer’s receipt and invoice for three human skeletons was my passport of safety.  But I regretted the necessity.  For it was certain that as soon as I was out of the house one of these hussies would run off to make inquiries about her friends; and when it was found that the burglars were missing, there might be trouble.  You can never calculate the actions of women.  I did not suppose that either of them was capable of breaking into the laboratory.  But still, one or both of them might.  And if they did, the fat would be in the fire with a vengeance.

“However, it had to be done, and accordingly I set forth after breakfast with a spring tape and a note of the measurements in my pocket.  Fortunately the dealer had just received a large consignment of skeletons from Germany (Heaven alone knows whence these German exporters obtain their supply), so I had an ample number to select from; and as they ran rather small—­I suspect they were mostly Frenchmen—­I had no difficulty in matching my specimens, which, as is usual with criminals, were all below the average stature.

“On my return I found that the housemaid was out, ‘doing some shopping,’ the cook explained.  But she returned shortly, and as soon as I saw her I knew that she had been making ‘kind inquiries.’  Her manner was most peculiar, and so was the cook’s for that matter.  They were both profoundly depressed and anxious; they both regarded me with evident dislike and still more evident fear.  They mumped about the house, silent and restless; they showed an inconvenient desire to keep me in sight and yet they hurried out of the rooms at my approach.

“The housemaid was very much disturbed.  When waiting at table, she eyed me incessantly and if I moved suddenly she jumped.  Once she dropped a soup tureen merely because I looked at her rather attentively; she was continually missing my wine-glass and pouring the claret on to the table-cloth; and when I tested the edge of a poultry-carver, which had become somewhat blunt, she hurried from the room and I saw her watching me through the crack of the door.

“The arrival of the ‘understudy’ skeletons from the dealers a couple of days later gave her a terrible shock.  I was in the dining-room when they arrived and through the open door heard what passed; and certainly the incident was not without a humorous side.

“The carrier came to the front door and to Susan, who answered his ring, he addressed himself with the familiarity of his class.

“’Here’s three cases for your master.  Funny uns, they are, too.  He don’t happen to be in the resurrection line, I suppose?’

“‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Susan replied, sourly.

“‘You will when you see the cases,’ the man retorted.  ’Three of ’em, there are.  Big uns.  Where will you have ’em?’