‘lt was an hour ago, I’m certain/ remarked Mr. Bulsale. ‘However, it’s of little consequence. Sorry we can’t oblige ym, sir, just at the moment; the key has evidently been mislaid.” ‘Supposing, after all, there is some thing inside, will it go with the article ? ’ < X pledge you my word/ answered Mr. Bulsale, with mock irony, ‘that the fortunate purchaser of that work of heart may justly claim anything that may happen to be in the interior. I trust everybody will now be satisfied, and allow ns to get on with business. There is no need to dwell on the progress of the bidding for Lot Number Eleven. Besides myself there were two or three other keen competitors, and so, even if I had not boon there with such imperative orders, Sowerbutt would have failed to secure the coveted piece of furniture at what he considered a reason able price; he retired from the field vanquished when the bidding had reached £\2 10s. Eventually the cabinet fell to my bid of i>37155., and a rather exorbitant figure I considered it. _ Of course, after all, I was but an agent in the matter. As there were not many lots to bo disposed of, I elected to stay till the sale was concluded, thinking it just possible I might learn something more respecting my purchase. I pushed my way through the crowd into Mr. Bnlsale’s private ofl&oe behind the sale-room, and seated myself facing the doorway through which I had just entered, my eyes the while resting upon the antique cabinet, which had been so placed that the back of it was partly across the entrance to the private room. I had been sitting a minute or so, musing over the unusual events of the morning, when, to my amazement, I 8 aw—there was no delusion-—the back of the wardrobe slowly opening towards me, like a door, disclosing a space of four or five inches, and through this aperture there appeared a small feminine hand, whose tapered fingers dangled invitingly a scrap of paper. Acting on the impulse of the moment, I rose and quickly trans ferred it to myself. The little band was thereupon instantly withdrawn, and the opening closed. 