Publisher's Synopsis
The house on the hill showed lights only upon the first floor-in the spacious reception hall, the dining room, and those more or less mysterious purLieus thereof from which emanate disagreeable odors and agreeable foods. From behind a low bush across the wide lawn a pair of eyes transferred to an alert brain these simple per- ceptions from which the brain deduced with Sherlock- ian accuracy and Raffleian purpose that the family of the president of The First National Bank of-Oh, let's call it Oakdale-was at dinner, that the servants were be- low stairs and the second floor deserted. The owner of the eyes had but recently descended from the quarters of the chauffeur above the garage which he had entered as a thief in the night and quitted apparelled in a perfectly good suit of clothes belong- ing to the gentlemanly chauffeur and a soft, checked cap which was now pulled well down over a pair of large brown eyes in which a rather strained expression might have suggested to an alienist a certain neophy- tism which even the stern set of well shaped lips could not effectually belie.
