"If Mr. Todd goes on a cutting
away his joists in this here way he'll bring his blessed old house down
with a run some day. How nice and handy, now, if any one was to step
upon here--they'd go down into the room below, and perhaps break their
blessed legs as they went." [Illustration: The Secret Trap Discovered In Todd's House.] "Escape the first for us!" said Sir Richard. "Oh, lor, yes. Now this here Todd thinks, by putting this here man-trap
here, as he has _perwided_ again any accidents; but we ain't them 'ere
sort o' birds as is catched by chaff, not we. Why he must have spilted
his blessed ceiling down below to make this here sort of a jigamaree
concern." "It's not a bad contrivance though, Crotchet. Its own weight, you see,
restores it to its place again, and so there's no trouble with it." "Oh dear, no. It's a what I calls a self-acting catch-'em-who-can sort
o' machine. Yes, Sir Richard, I never did think that 'ere Todd was wery
green. He don't know quite so much as we know; but yet he's a rum 'un." "No doubt of it. Do you think, Crotchet, there is anything else in this
attic to beware of?" "Not likely; when he'd finished this here nice little piece of
handywork, I dare say he said to himself--'This will catch 'em,' and so
down stairs he toddled, and grinned like a monkey as has swallowed a
whole nut by haccident, and gived himself a pain in the side in
consekence. 'That'll catch 'em,' says he." Mr. Crotchet seemed so much amused at the picture he drew to himself of
the supposed exultation of Todd, that for some moments he did nothing
but laugh. The reader must not suppose, however, that in the
circumstances of peril in which they were, he indulged in a regular "Ha! ha!" --quite the contrary. He had a mode of laughing under such
circumstances that was entirely his own, and which, while it made no
noise, shook his huge frame as though some commotion had taken sudden
possession of it, and the most ridiculous part of the process was the
alarming suddenness with which he would become preternaturally serious
again. But Sir Richard Blunt knew his peculiarities, and paid no
attention to them, unless they very much interfered with business. "We must not waste time. Come on, Crotchet." Sir Richard walked to the door of the attic and tried it. It was as fast
as though it had been part of the wall itself. "So--so," he said. "Master Todd has taken some precautions against being
surprised from the top of his house. He has nailed up this door as
surely as any door was ever nailed up." "Has he really, though?" "Yes. Quick, Crotchet. You have your tools about you, I suppose." "Never fear," said Crotchet. "I'm the _indiwedal_ as never forgets
nothink, and if I don't have the middle panel out o' this door a'most as
soon as look at it, it's only cos it takes more time." With this philosophical and indisputable remark, Mr. Crotchet stooped
down before the door, and taking various exquisitely made tools from his
pocket, he began to work at the door. He knocked nearly noiselessly, and
it looked like something little short of magic to see how the panel was
forced out of the door without any of the hammering and flustering which
a carpenter would have made of it. "All's right," he said. "If we can't creep through here, we are bigger
than I think we is." "That will do. Hush!" They both listened attentively, for Sir Richard thought he heard a faint
noise from the lower part of the house. As, however, five minutes of
attentive listening passed away, and no repetition of it occurred, they
thought it was only some one of those accidental sounds which will at
times be heard in all houses whether occupied or not. Crotchet took the
lead by creeping clearly enough through the opening that he had made in
the door of the attic, and Sir Richard followed him. They were both,
now, at the head of the staircase, and Sir Richard held up the lantern
so as to have a good look around him. The walls looked damp and
neglected. There were two other doors opening from that landing, but
neither of them was fastened, so that they entered the rooms easily. They took care, though, not to go beyond the threshold for fear of
accidents, although it was very unlikely that Todd would take the
trouble to construct a trap-door in any other attic than the one which
was so easily accessible from the parapet. "Old clothes--old clothes!" said Crotchet. "There seems to be nothing
else in these rooms." "So it would appear," said Sir Richard. He lifted up some of the topmost of a heap of garments upon the floor,
and a cloud of moths flew upwards in confusion. "There's the toggery," said Mr. Crotchet, "of the _smugged 'uns_!" "You really think so." "Knows it." "Well, Crotchet, I don't think from what I know myself that we shall
disagree about Todd's guilt. The grand thing is to discover how, and in
what way he is guilty." "Just so. I'm quite sure we have seed all as there is to see up here, so
suppose we toddle down stairs now, sir. There's, perhaps, quite a lot o'
wonders and natur', and art, down below." "Stop a bit. Hold the lamp." Crotchet did so, while Sir Richard took from his pocket a pair of thick
linsey-woolsey stockings, and carefully drew them on over his boots, for
the purpose of deadening the sound of his footsteps; and then he held
the light, while Mr. Crotchet, who was similarly provided with
linsey-woolseys, went through the same process. After this, they moved
like spectres, so perfectly noiseless were their footsteps upon the
stairs. Sir Richard went first, while Crotchet now carried the light,
holding it sufficiently high that the magistrate could see the stairs
before him very well, as he proceeded. It was quite evident, from the
state of those stairs, as regarded undisturbed dust, that they had not
been ascended for a considerable time; and indeed, Todd, considering the
top of his house as perfectly safe after the precautions he had taken,
did not trouble himself to visit it. Our adventurers reached the landing
upon the second floor in perfect safety; and after giving a few minutes
more to the precautionary measure of listening, they opened the first
door that presented itself to the observation, and entered the room. They both paused in astonishment, for such a miscellaneous collection of
matters as was in this room, could only have been expected to be met
with in the shop of a general dealer. Several chairs and tables were
loaded with wearing apparel of all kinds and conditions. The corners of
the room were literally crowded with mobs of swords, walking sticks, and
umbrellas; while a countless heap of hats lay upon the floor in
disorder. You could not have stepped into that room for miscellaneous
personal appointments of one sort or another; and Mr. Crotchet and Sir
Richard Blunt trod upon the hats as they walked across the floor, from
sheer inability to get out of the way.