There was one window
which was left unguarded. Haw had been imprudent enough to tell them
so. It was the middle window of the laboratory. If he remembered it so
clearly, of course his father would remember it too. There was the
point of danger.
The moment that he had come round the corner of the building he found
that his surmise had been correct. An electric lamp burned in the
laboratory, and the silver squares of the three large windows stood out
clear and bright in the darkness. The centre one had been thrown open,
and, even as he gazed, Robert saw a dark monkey-like figure spring up on
to the sill, and vanish into the room beyond. For a moment only it
outlined itself against the brilliant light beyond, but in that moment
Robert had space to see that it was indeed his father. On tiptoe he
crossed the intervening space, and peeped in through the open window.
It was a singular spectacle which met his eyes.
There stood upon the glass table some half-dozen large ingots of gold,
which had been made the night before, but which had not been removed to
the treasure-house. On these the old man had thrown himself, as one who
enters into his rightful inheritance. He lay across the table, his arms
clasping the bars of gold, his cheek pressed against them, crooning and
muttering to himself.
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