the next day was indeed a long one for the lord of blackarden and many, many times he wondered if all their surmises would fall like a house of cards to the ground and the dawn break on the morrow with nothing having happened. he wondered the more that evening at dinner with the gallant major at his best. the other two visitors having gone away that morning, there were only five of them at the meal, and to young avon’s secret annoyance, his friend paying his accustomed attention to the ladies seemed yet to look at penelope far more than at anybody else.

mangan was certainly in a happy frame of mind. the more he thought about it the more he was pleased that all he had to do in the forthcoming attempt to obtain possession of the jewels was to get captain michaeloff and his companion into the castle. very doubtful that they would meet with the easy success they were anticipating, he wanted to be mixed up in the whole business as little as possible. looking ahead to the time when avon would be lord of the castle and a plump pigeon to be plucked, whether or not michaeloff did manage to get hold of the jewels, he was determined no suspicion should have fallen upon himself.

so, with that end in view, he had made no effort to get into the study with the key they had provided him and look for the secret panel in the wall leading to the stairway. all he had done was to make certain he had found the way to tamper successfully with the alarm on the front door, and he was quite sure he had got that all right.

the missing footman had undoubtedly been a highly skilled electrician and following the instructions he had remitted to the embassy during his stay at the castle mangan was now provided with an ingenious little appliance into which the electric current servicing the alarms could be temporarily diverted, thus rendering unnecessary any cutting of the wires. thanks to an excellent blueprint of this appliance and the photograph of the big alarm on the front door which he had so cunningly obtained, mangan was confident he knew exactly where to fix the gadget. so all was satisfactory there, and directly the other two conspirators were safely inside the castle he would go back to his bedroom and, later, no one would have any idea that he had ever come out of it.

thinking things over, he continued to be the more and more amused at the captain being so sure that, once down in the vaults, he would be able to find what he wanted without any trouble. knowing lord delamarne to be a very shrewd and capable old man, he did not for one moment imagine his lordship would have just plumped down his treasures anywhere, perhaps in a convenient suitcase all exposed to view and handy for the first person to pick up when he came along. rather, he thought they would be in a hiding place even harder to locate than was the entrance to the secret stairway in the study. the captain was so confident, too, about this latter problem. to deal with any difficulty there, he had said that his companion would be coming all prepared, if necessary, to tear down the panels one by one until they had found what they were wanting. he was of the opinion that it would prove quite an easy matter.

dinner over and with no one apparently keen on any cards, the rest of the evening was passed in conversation and music. soon after eleven they all went to bed and long before midnight the old castle was wrapped in slumber. at midnight, almost to the minute, larose was let into the big hall to find lord delamarne and penelope all ready for him.

“everything all right?” he whispered.

lord delamarne nodded. “yes, mangan went up to his room a long time ago and miss smith says he’s put out his light. she is going to wait here to call us if necessary while i take you down below.” he turned to penelope. “i’ll leave the panel open on the chance that you may have to fetch us.”

“but they won’t come yet for an hour or two,” said larose, “i’m pretty sure of that. the major is certain to have warned them that you’re a bit of a night bird and don’t get to sleep early.”

lord delamarne led larose into his study and showed him with some pride his ingenious way of dealing with the oak panel. “i am sure it would need a very imaginative person to think of this catch in the drawer of my desk. now we’ll go down below. the steps are quite easy though there are plenty of them.”

in a couple of minutes or so larose was gazing with not a little awe down the long corridor with the score and more of wide-open gaping dungeons opening into it. “oh, what tales these old walls could tell,” he whispered, “if only they could speak! what ghastly horrors they must have seen!”

“i’m afraid so,” nodded his lordship, “but i don’t suppose they’ve looked down upon more suffering than is going on in the world today. with the passing of the years those baltic friends of ours are every bit as cruel and inhuman as were my ancestors of those many generations back.” he made a grimace. “i shouldn’t like to find myself in their hands today.”

larose was greatly intrigued with the comfortable little room his lordship had built for himself among all the gruesome surroundings, and he whistled when he noted the amount of valuable silver it contained. “whew! i don’t wonder you’re afraid of being robbed. there would be a fine haul for anyone here.”

upon his asking to see the well into which the body of the footman had been dropped, his lordship took a coil of rope and a small oil lantern out of a cupboard. “i keep these here,” he explained, “so that if by evil chance anyone ever succeeded in getting down into these vaults he should not associate them with the well and go lowering the lantern into it to see what’s at the bottom.” he nodded. “i have tried to provide for everything.”

making their way round to the well, his lordship lit the lantern and lowered it down with the piece of rope. the water of the so mysterious river was seen to be running swiftly, and from the height at which they were looking down it seemed black as ink. lord delamarne said, however, that when any of it was brought up in a bucket it was always bright and clear.

“and is the water always running as swiftly as it is now?” asked larose.

“always,” replied his lordship, “and, as i have told you, it appears to have been doing so for ever and ever. in my father’s and grandfather’s times it was just the same.”

“and now where have you got all those beautiful treasures hidden away?” asked larose.

returning to the main corridor, lord delamarne pointed to a large paving flag at the foot of one of the massive walls. “they’re under that one,” he said, “though from the closeness it is set to the other flags you would never think it would lift up quite easily. still, it does.” he pointed to another big flag about ten feet away. “that is the key-stone one. you prise that one up and then grope for a long iron rod. push on that and this stone comes up, though it’s all that distance away. good idea, isn’t it? i don’t think anyone would tumble to it.”

they were taking a last look into the little room where all the beautiful silver articles were displayed, when, without a second’s warning, larose was suddenly struck down on to the ground by a vicious blow on the head, while at the same time lord delamarne was seized roughly from behind and his arms pinioned tightly to his sides. the attacks had avalanched so quickly that neither of them had had the slightest chance of defending himself.

“now you, larose, don’t you start to get up,” shouted a vicious voice which larose, even in his half-stunned condition, to his intense mortification recognised as that of captain michaeloff of the baltic embassy. “don’t move or i’ll plug you instantly,” and blinking his eyes to clear them from the blood which was trickling down from a cut in his forehead larose saw he was being covered by a pistol at a most unpleasantly close range.

then, still pointing his automatic at larose, the captain stepped back a few paces and grabbed at the length of rope which lord delamarne had been using at the well. “most handy!” he jeered, and as quickly almost as it takes to tell the one-time detective was effectively trussed up and propped against the wall.

they were indeed agonising moments for larose. it was not the fear only of what might be coming for him that was making his breathing painful and his mouth go dry. it was the bitter humiliation at having allowed himself to be caught as he had been and, above all, by the lying and treacherous attache of the baltic embassy.

it was now the turn of lord delamarne who all the time had been held tightly by the captain’s companion. with the rope knotted painfully round his wrists and ankles, he was propped up by the side of larose, and everything now secure michaeloff took out and lit a cigarette.

“splendid!” he exclaimed, dropping into his ordinary tone of voice. “it couldn’t have gone off better! everything made easy for us, the secret panel left open, the lights all on and even the piece of rope all handy for us to tie you both up!” he laughed merrily. “why, it is just as if you’ve been expecting us and got everything ready.”

his mood changed and he bent down over larose, thrusting his face very close to his. “and this comes of your interfering, you poor boob of a policeman,” he jeered. “i’ve no pity for you, as you’ve deserved everything you’re now going to get.” he pretended to be shocked. “but just fancy a clever fellow like you letting yourself be caught like this!” he scowled angrily. “why didn’t you keep your nose out of what was no business of yours? first annoying a fine gentleman like major mangan and now, no doubt, coming here to boss this old fool’s affairs.” he shook his head. “i’m ashamed of you, mr. policeman larose.”

he turned his attention to lord delamarne. “well, my lord,” he said smilingly, “you’ve had a good run for your money, or rather i should say, with other people’s money, but the devil has caught up with you at last and you’ve got to pay up all you owe.” his voice hardened angrily. “you miserable old wretch, what have you done with the body of poor ivan menk”— he bowed ironically —“i beg your pardon, i mean that of the footman, thomas. got his body buried somewhere down here, of course? oh, you won’t talk, eh? well, i guess you’ll be talking quite a lot in a minute or two.” he turned back to larose. “and you’ll be talking, too, mr. policeman, when we’re warming up your fingers a bit.”

he stopped speaking for a few moments and regarded the two prisoners thoughtfully. “i think we’d better get down to business at once,” he said to his companion, “and we’ll take the old boy first.”

he spoke very sternly. “now, lord delamarne, no nonsense and tell us without any bother where you’re hiding what’s left of those crown jewels. you’ll have to speak, man, and if you’re sensible about it when we’ve got what we want we may even let you go free. it’s different with the policeman here. he knows too much and we’ll have to put him to sleep. now, lord delamarne, are you or are you not going to tell us, without any more persuasion, where those jewels are hidden? come on. make up your mind. quick!”

a long, dead silence followed and the vaults were very still. the eyes of lord delamarne were burning like coals of fire, his face was deathly pale and he was keeping his lips tightly shut. the face of larose was pale, too, and his forehead was pricked out in little beads of sweat. his expression, however, was one of calmness and he did not seem at all afraid.

“very well then, my lord,” snapped michaeloff viciously. “if you won’t speak we’ll have to make you.” he took a box of matches out of his pocket and nodded to his companion. “hold his hands quite still, joseph, and push out one of his fingers. we’ll soon have him chattering like a monkey.”

the captain moved up close to lord delamarne and, striking a match, waited the few moments until it was burning brightly. then ——

* * * * *

now captain michaeloff would certainly not have been quite so confident in his mocking at larose for having landed himself into such an humiliating and unescapable position had he then but been aware exactly what had followed upon him, the captain, being admitted into the castle by mangan. his coming and that of his companion had by no means been as unnoticed as he was so imagining, and it had happened in this way.

left alone in the darkness of the big lounge-hall to keep watch until lord delamarne and larose should return from the vaults, penelope had curled herself up comfortably upon a big settee and, worn out by the excitement of everything, almost at once dropped peacefully to sleep. it may be she would have been more vigilant had not larose been so confident in his assertion that no one was likely to arrive for a good couple of hours. at any rate she tried to excuse herself afterwards with the thought that had there been any chance of an earlier arriving she would certainly not have allowed herself to be so comfortable on the settee, to say nothing of closing her eyes.

her sleep was not a heavy one and, looking back later, she thought it must have been the draught of cold air on the stealthy opening of the hall door which disturbed her. at any rate, she awoke suddenly to hear low voices close to her, and opening her eyes to her dreadful horror saw mangan and two other men standing not a dozen feet from her.

“now give me your key, major,” whispered one of them sharply, “and you go back to your room without an instant’s waiting. whatever you may hear don’t stir out of it,” and in the dim light she saw mangan tiptoe off at once in the direction of the other end of the castle where his room was. the two other men disappeared along the corridor which led to lord delamarne’s study.

overwhelmed with shame that she had been so unfaithful to her trust and trembling in every limb with terror at what she saw was now happening, for a few moments penelope continued to lie as if spellbound where she was. happily, however, the shock passed quickly and, springing to her feet, she darted off after the two men, just in time to see them let themselves into the study.

“my god,” she wailed, “and he was going to leave the panel open for me! they’ll go straight down and murder them!”

for the moment she stood in panicky hesitation not knowing what she could do. her heart was beating painfully and she breathed only with difficulty. then an inspiration came to her, and taking to her heels she rushed pantingly up the wide staircase leading to the upper floors. she would call chester avon and take him down into the vaults! that the two men would not stop at murder she was sure, but perhaps chester would be able to shoot them first! then a horrible doubt seized her. she did not think chester a coward, but it always took time for him to make up his mind. well, she must make up his mind for him! she must give him no time to think!

letting herself quickly into chester’s room, which happily was in a different wing from where the major’s was, she closed the door with frantic haste gently behind her and darted over to the bed. with the moon shining through the windows, there was plenty of light, and one glance showed her he was fast asleep. she put her hand over his mouth and hissed sharply into his ear, “chester, wake up! wake up at once!”

he was roused instantly. “penelope, you little darling,” he exclaimed, and he caught hold of one of her arms. “you ——”

“don’t be a fool,” she snapped. “get up at once. there are thieves in the castle and they’ve gone down into the vaults. your uncle and gilbert larose, the detective, are down there and they’ll be murdered if you’re not quick.”

“but ——” began chester.

“don’t talk,” she choked, “don’t wait for me to explain. i’ll tell you everything as we go along. put on some clothes quick! you’re to come down into the vaults with me,” and half lugging him out of bed she threw his trousers and jacket at him.

with his wits still in something of a haze from his so sudden an awakening from sleep, young avon did as penelope had ordered and she saw to it that he did it quickly, too. “now, where’s your pistol?” she asked, and he got it out of a drawer. “it’s not loaded, you say!” she exclaimed disgustedly. “then load it, quick!” but to her exasperation it was several minutes before he could find the cartridges, which in his quickly rising excitement he did remember having wrapped up in some pyjamas because their cardboard container had broken. finally, there was more delay when, running down the corridor, penelope dropped her keys of the study door and it was quite an appreciable time before they could pick it up by the light of the small torch which she was carrying.

“but why haven’t you fetched major mangan?” whispered chester as they were tremblingly making their way down the long stairway leading to the vaults. “he’d be the very man for anything like this. why didn’t you wake him up?”

“because he’s an evil man and is in this thieving, too,” whispered back penelope. “it was he whom i saw let these two thieves into the castle, but he’s gone back to his bedroom now so as to pretend he’s had nothing to do with it. oh yes, your uncle knows what he is and we’ve been watching him all the time he’s been here. but don’t talk about him now. you’ll hear everything presently,” and chester was stunned to silence in his amazement.

at last gaining the bottom of the stairway they saw the corridor stretching long and dark before them, though where it turned round the corner at its end they could see there was a light burning. they could hear someone speaking. their hearts beat rapidly.

“come on, quick!” whispered penelope hoarsely. “hold your pistol ready and if you have to fire, fire instantly. don’t wait to think. do as i tell you.”

they ran quickly forward, with penelope gripping fiercely to young avon’s arm. they could hear the same person speaking, with him now breaking into a jeering laugh.

“let go my arm,” ordered avon sharply. “i can’t use my pistol with you clinging to it.”

reaching the corner, they pulled up in a stride and peered stealthily round. penelope choked back a scream. there, only a few yards away, the old lord and larose were lying back bound and helpless with the two men whom mangan had let into the castle standing menacingly over them. the men had got their backs turned towards her.

she felt she was going to faint. but it could not be true, she told herself. she was in the horrors of a dreadful dream and would wake up presently to know it had been all unreal! her eyes, at first intent upon lord delamarne, wandered over to larose and it came to her suddenly that he had seen them and was staring hard in their direction. subconsciously she noted how pale he was, though the expression on his face was yet calm and untroubled. she thought even that he was half smiling. with a start she came out of her dream. he was asking them for help.

she glanced up quickly to chester by her side, wondering fearfully how at this supreme moment he was affected and at once was filled with a most thankful relief. certainly, she knew he had never been particularly fond of his uncle, but to see now the proud lord of the castle, the head of the blackarden line, being treated with such indignities and with his grim, old face white as death, was undoubtedly rousing the boy to a savage fury. clenching his teeth tightly he raised his pistol arm, and she saw that it was as steady as a rock.

then at that moment she saw that while one of the men was dragging forward lord delamarne’s tightly-bound hands, the other was striking a match.

“they’re going to burn his fingers!” she choked to avon.

“quick! quick! shoot him! aim at his head, and the other one’s too! quick!”

the pistol cracked sharply and the senior attache of the baltic embassy crashed to the ground. his companion turned as quick as the strike of a snake, with his hand reaching for his hip pocket, but the pistol cracked again and he went down with a bullet between his eyes.

the acrid reek of cordite filled the air and a long, deep silence fell upon the vaults. the wheel of fortune had turned so quickly that for the moment no one there could take in what had happened. young avon was trembling as if in a palsy, and his widely-staring eyes were fixed with horror-struck intent on the bodies of the men he had killed. the heads of both of them were lying in pools of blood. one of the bodies was quite still, but the other was kicking convulsively.

it was larose who recovered first. “splendid!” he called out hoarsely. “two magnificent shots!”

his voice aroused avon like a douche of icy water and he darted towards his uncle, but he tripped over michaeloff’s body and measured his length heavily on the hard stone flags. instantly half springing to his feet, he sank down again with a cry of pain. he had twisted his ankle under him.

so it was penelope who was first by lord delamarne’s side and began with badly shaking hands to untie his bonds. “good girl,” his lordship whispered weakly. he smiled affectionately at his nephew. “and good boy, too. i’m very proud of you.”

“splendid of them both,” called out larose gaily. he laughed happily. “oh, the thankfulness when i saw you both come round that corner! i think it was the best moment of my life.” he nodded at avon. “two as pretty shots as i’ve seen, and i congratulate you, young fellow. we are all proud of you.”

in turn freed by penelope from his bonds, larose bent over avon to examine his foot. “a nasty fall,” he exclaimed, as he propped him up against the wall, “and don’t try to get up again for a few minutes.” he turned to penelope. “are we safe for a little while, do you think, young lady, from that devil of a major?”

the reaction was now beginning to tell upon penelope, and white and very shaky-looking she sank down by the side of lord delamarne, who was still unequal to getting up on his feet again. “yes, quite safe, i am sure, mr. larose,” she said. “he had a key of the study door from somewhere, but i saw him give it up”— her voice choked as she threw a quick glance at the body of captain michaeloff —“to that man there. so, as i shut the study door before we came down here, he can’t have followed us,” and she related brokenly everything that had happened and how finally mangan had been sent back to his bedroom.

“and you don’t think, my lord,” asked larose of lord delamarne, “that the sound of that gun will have reached up into the castle?”

young avon was now looking very sick. to the pain of his injured ankle was now added something of remorse that he had taken the lives of two men, and he was very near to breaking down. “oh, how dreadful it all is!” he exclaimed shakily. “still, no one could call it murder! i was quite justified in shooting them, was i not?”

“justified!” exclaimed larose, as if in great astonishment at such a question being asked. “i should just think you were! why, don’t you realise that you saved both our lives?” he scowled. “far more than that even, as those beasts were going to torture us before they killed us. you saw the lighted match they were going to put to your uncle’s fingers.” he smiled approvingly. “yes, my boy, you did a very meritorious action in killing them and no one would blame you.”

“but what a business the police will make of it,” said avon, looking the very picture of misery. “they’ll ——”

“know nothing about it,” interrupted larose sharply. “if none of us four here say anything, not a word of what’s just happened need ever come out. i shall take what remains of these wretches away with me and hide them where they’ll never be found. so no one will ever learn anything.” he turned to lord delamarne, “that is your wish, is it not, my lord?”

lord dclamarne’s colour had come back and he seemed almost himself again. he understood what larose meant. “yes, that will be best,” he said. “if we keep our heads, there need be no publicity.”

“but major mangan will know,” said avon, looking very-puzzled. “penelope has told us he let them into the castle and knew where they were coming to get the silver here.”

“and he’ll think they got it,” said larose, “and have gone away. later, when he hears nothing more of them, he’ll be the most puzzled man in the world, but he’ll never guess what has happened. of course, he won’t dare to approach the police, as that would incriminate himself.” he turned again to lord delamarne. “i understand this mangan is leaving the castle in the morning.”

“yes, directly after breakfast,” nodded his lordship. he smiled a grim smile. “and i shan’t be about to bid him good-bye. i’m not a good enough actor to trust myself to speak to him.”

“and your nephew mustn’t see him either,” said larose peremptorily. he smiled at penelope. “this young lady must say he’s hurt his ankle so badly and is in such pain that he doesn’t want to speak to anybody. now we’ll take mr. avon straight up to bed and miss smith will put a wet compress on his ankle and remain with him until he feels more comfortable.”

so, with larose and penelope supporting him, avon was taken up to his room and then larose returned to lord delamarne. “really,” he said, “things could hardly have gone better except that we can’t bring that vile mangan in. he’ll have to be allowed to get off scot free again, though later he’ll certainly be in a dreadfully worried state of mind as to what has happened. what will they be thinking, too, at the embassy? by gad, i’d like to see their faces when their senior attache doesn’t turn up.” he regarded the two bodies thoughtfully. “well, i think we’d better search these departed gentlemen before they go into your private graveyard.”

the first thing michaeloff’s pocket yielded was a plan of the ground floor of the castle. “know that handwriting?” asked larose. “as was to be expected, mangan’s, of course! oh, how the case against him is proved up to the hilt! but oh, the devil, that we can’t make any move against him!”

some few minutes later returning up into the castle, larose made ready to pick up his car which he had cached in a byroad among some trees. “and their car will be about somewhere close at hand, too, but of course in the direction of the way they came to get here. so, to round off the whole business properly, i’ll have to look for it tomorrow as early as possible before anyone else comes upon it. i’ll take it a good many miles away if we can’t think how to get rid of it altogether.”

in the big hall they inspected with great interest the little appliance with which mangan had short-circuited the wires on the alarm on the front door. “no, we won’t touch it,” whispered larose, “for they must have arranged with mangan for him to come down and take it off before it gets light and, also, rebolt the front door. unhappily, we shall never know all that was in their minds, but it looks as if they were darned confident of getting hold of the jewels without any difficulty. no, we mustn’t let mangan have the slightest suspicion about anything, and as i say he’ll be the most puzzled man in the kingdom in the course of the next few days.”

waving away his lord’s thanks, he bade him good-bye with the arrangement that he would return to the castle on the morrow as soon as the coast was clear. “get miss penelope to give me a ring,” he said, “directly that brute has gone away.”

so the grim old castle soon sank into silence again, though for four of its inmates, as can be well imagined, there was little sleep that night. his lordship was not unduly troubled, and was thinking most how he could adequately repay the three persons who had been of such service to him. penelope’s thoughts were of chester avon, how bravely he had responded to her urging and whether, with the great secret now between them, he would want her to become his wife. the old lord, she was sure, could induce him to do anything he, the old lord, wanted. chester himself was giving little thought to penelope. his ankle was hurting him far too much, and the remembrance that he had killed two men was very distressing to him.

as for mangan, his great anxiety was that he would fall asleep and not awaken in time to remove the little appliance on the alarm before the servants were about. keeping himself awake with some difficulty, he got out of bed with a curse just before five and went down into the hall to attend to it. he had given them time enough, he told himself, and if the alarm did go off when they let themselves out of the castle, then they would have to make the best of things and get away quickly. at any rate, he had done all that had been asked of him.

returning to his room, he got two hours and more of sound sleep before the first breakfast gong awakened him. he dressed and packed hurriedly, glad to think that if anything had been taken from the vaults he would be well away before the loss had been discovered. whatever had happened he was quite confident the old lord would never have the slightest suspicion of him.

sitting down to breakfast, at first penelope was the only other one there and he thought she was looking rather tired and pale. however, she was just as bright and animated as usual, and told a harrowing tale of poor chester slipping on the stairs the previous night and hurting his ankle badly. he had had no sleep all night, she said, but had now dropped off to sleep and was not to be disturbed.

mangan made out how sorry he was and, indeed, looked so troubled that penelope would dearly have liked to slap his face for his hypocrisy. however, she smiled sweetly and promised to give chester his condolences directly he awoke.

at that moment joan appeared and, having made her apologies for being late, turned to penelope and began reproving her in mock severity for some pieces of mud she had just found on the carpet in the study. “they must have come off your shoes,” she said, “as i know father didn’t go outside all yesterday to get his feet dirty, and he and you were the only ones to be in the study all day.”

“but i’m sure i couldn’t have been so careless,” began penelope indignantly. “i—” but, it flashed into her mind who it must have been who had brought the mud in, she stopped speaking and coloured up in her sudden embarrassment.

“ah, i don’t wonder you are now looking ashamed of yourself,” laughed joan. “you are a careless girl.” she explained to mangan, “you see, major, father is always so fussy about this old study of his that only one particular housemaid and i are allowed in there to tidy and clean it up. we’ve just been doing it and that’s how i’ve come to find penelope out. she ought to be punished; now oughtn’t she?”

it was with difficulty mangan could find appropriate words to express his agreement with what she had said, as idea upon idea was rushing into his mind and he was thinking that he could now see with something like clearness exactly what had happened during the preceding night. michaeloff had found the crown jewels and got away with them in safety! what else could it all mean?

mud upon the study carpet! then it had been michaeloff and the other man who had carried it there! and nothing else unusual had been noticed in the study as it had been swept and tidied this morning! no broken panels in the wall and no appearance of anything having been disturbed! everything quite orderly! then, of course, it would only be that the search had been successful, and everything had gone off quickly and smoothly.

the meal over and mangan’s good-byes said, he could not get on his way to the bungalow speedily enough. for the moment he was putting out of his mind the thought that any attempt would be made to cheat him out of his share of the treasure. of course, he told himself, those at the embassy would be realising he was too dangerous a man to double-cross in any way, and so he thrilled at the idea that in such a few minutes now he would be feasting his eyes upon what at one time had adorned the persons of the great beauties of the russian court.

however, at length arriving at the bungalow, he received a terrible shock and all his so-rosy expectations went crashing to the ground.

the bungalow was locked up and there was no one there!

for a few moments he could not take it in and stood speechless in his astonishment and dismay. surely michaeloff would not have dared to treat him like this? he had known he was coming and knew, too, that he had to wait for him!

striding round to the garage he found the door there was locked, too, and looking through the cracks he saw there was no car there. he swore savagely. then that cursed michaeloff had dared! he was treating him as if he were his servant and, by hell, he’d make him pay for it!

throwing himself into his car with his face as black as thunder, he started on his long journey back to town.