It is made to run either horizontally
or vertically. This line of knobs represents the various rooms.
You can see 'Dining,' 'Smoking,' 'Billiard,' 'Library' and so on, upon
them. I will show you the upward action. I press this one with
'Kitchen' upon it."
There was a sense of motion, a very slight jar, and Robert, without
moving from his seat, was conscious that the room had vanished, and that
a large arched oaken door stood in the place which it had occupied.
"That is the kitchen door," said Raffles Haw. "I have my kitchen at the
top of the house. I cannot tolerate the smell of cooking. We have come
up eighty feet in a very few seconds. Now I press again and here we are
in my room once more."
Robert McIntyre stared about him in astonishment.
"The wonders of science are greater than those of magic" he remarked.
"Yes, it is a pretty little mechanism. Now we try the horizontal.
I press the 'Dining' knob and here we are, you see. Step towards the
door, and you will find it open in front of you."
Robert did as he was bid, and found himself with his companion in a
large and lofty room, while the lift, the instant that it was freed from
their weight, flashed back to its original position. With his feet
sinking into the soft rich carpet, as though he were ankle-deep in some
mossy bank, he stared about him at the great pictures which lined the
walls.
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