The String of Pearls (1850), p. 617

but the shop is free of human occupants. And now for the means of getting into it. If anybody can, I can, and that with tolerable ease, too."
The apparatus by which Todd had been in the habit of letting down his customers, consisted of a slight system of lever, which he could move from the parlour, but provided he could reach so high, he could just as easily release the

TODD SETS FIRE TO HIS HOUSE, THEN HIDES HIMSELF IN ST. DUNSTAN'S PULPIT.{Figure}

loose plank from where he was; in which case the chair that was above would have a preponderating influence, as that was on the heaviest arm of the plank from the centre upon which it turned.
"I can manage that," he said; and then taking the knife from his pocket, he found that by its aid he could just reach high enough to touch the lever that acted as a kind of a bolt to keep the plank in place. The moment he removed