CHAPTER XII.
I surveyed it with the utmost attention; all its parts appeared equally solid and smooth. It could not be doubted that one of its sides served the purpose of a lid, and was possible to be raised; mere strength could not be applied to raise it, because there was no projecture which might be firmly held by the hand, and by which force could be exerted; some spring, therefore, secretly existed, which might for ever elude the senses, but on which the hand, by being moved over it in all directions, might accidentally light.
This process was effectual: a touch, casually applied at an angle, drove back a bolt; and a spring at the same time was set in action, by which the lid was raised above half an inch. No event could be supposed more fortuitous than this: a hundred hands might have sought in vain for this spring; the spot in which a certain degree of pressure was sufficient to produce this effect, was of all the last likely to attract notice or awaken suspicion.
I opened the trunk with eagerness: the Space within was divided into numerous compartments, none of which contained any thing of moment. Tools of different and curious constructions, and remnants of minute machinery, were all that offered themselves to my notice.
My expectations being thus frustrated, I proceeded to restore things to their former state. I attempted to close the lid; but the Spring which had raised it refused to bend. No measure that I could adopt, enabled me to place the lid in the same situation in which I had found it: in my efforts to press down the lid, which were augmented in proportion to the resistance that I met with, the spring was broken. This obstacle being removed, the lid resumed its proper place; but no means within the reach of my ingenuity to discover, enabled me to push forward the bolt, and thus restore the fastening.
I now perceived that Clithero had provided not only against the opening of his cabinet, but likewise against the
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