The woman of the harsh voice and self-satisfied demeanour, who had started them upon this adventure, was still ahead; but even she quailed when, upon laying her hand upon the panel of the door she was the first to reach, she felt it to be cold and knew it to be made not of wood but of iron.  How great must be the treasure or terrible the secret to make necessary such extraordinary precautions!  Was it for her to push open this door, and so come upon discoveries which—­

But here her doubts were cut short by finding herself face to face with a heavy curtain instead of a yielding door.  The pressure of the crowd behind had precipitated her past the latter into a small vestibule which acted as an ante-chamber to the very room they were in search of.

The shock restored her self-possession.  Bracing herself, she held her place for a moment, while she looked back, with a finger laid on her lip.  The light was much better here and they could all see both the move she made and the expression which accompanied it.

“Look at this!” she whispered, pushing the curtain inward with a quick movement.

Her hand had encountered no resistance.  There was nothing between them and the room beyond but a bit of drapery.

“Now hark, all of you,” fell almost soundlessly from her lips, as she laid her own ear against the curtain.

And they hearkened.

Not a murmur came from within, not so much as the faintest rustle of clothing or the flutter of a withheld breath.  All was perfectly still—­too still.  As the full force of this fact impressed itself upon them, a blankness settled over their features.  The significance of this undisturbed quiet was making itself felt.  If the two were there, or if he were there alone, they would certainly hear some movement, voluntary or involuntary—­and they could hear nothing.  Was the woman gone?  Had she found her way out front while they approached from the rear?  And the judge!  Was he gone also?—­this man of inalterable habits—­gone before Bela’s return—­a thing he had not been known to do in the last twelve years?  No, no, this could not be.  Yet even this supposition was not so incredible as that he should still be here and silent.  Men like him do not hold their peace under a provocation so great as the intrusion of a mob of strangers into a spot where he never anticipated seeing anybody, nor had seen anybody but his man Bela for years.  Soon they would hear his voice.  It was not in nature for him to be as quiet as this in face of such audacity.

Yet who could count upon the actions of an Ostrander, or reckon with the imperious whims of a man mysterious beyond all precedent?—­He may be there but silent, or—­

A single glance would settle all.

The woman drew the curtain.

Sunshine!  A stream of it, dazzling them almost to blindness and sending them, one and all, pellmell back upon each other!  However dismal the approach, here all was in brilliant light with every evidence before them of busy life.