Leona Lalage had scarcely returned to her own room when Hetty came out of hers. She had heard the loud knocking at the door, and had instantly guessed who it was. But the strange silence that followed the answering of that summons puzzled her. The whole house was wonderfully still now, a silence that seemed to tell of dark mysteries. She looked over into the hall below. She could not remain here any longer. She would go down into the library and wait there. Those two people were quite capable of murdering her lover as well as Maitrank. She opened the library door, and to her great surprise Bruce stood before her.

As she would have cried out he laid his hand on her lips. He could feel that she was trembling from head to foot.

"My darling," he whispered, "what does it all mean?"

"I cannot tell you," Hetty said helplessly. "But I have been seeing strange things all the evening. I got frightened and sent for you."

"And I am afraid I betrayed the fact," Bruce admitted. "I might have thought of some other way of accounting for my presence here. Still, that rather piratical-looking young man seemed to think you had done right. What\'s this about some man picked up in the garden?"

"What did Mr. Balmayne tell you?" Hetty asked in reply.

Bruce explained shortly. Hetty came closer to him.

"Lies, lies, lies!" she whispered. "There is not a word of truth in what he said. That old man came here because the Countess had robbed him of a lot of money. There were some diamonds that he was going to take in part payment. He had the diamonds. Then he was drugged and cleverly got out of the house. They had so managed it that a policeman saw him leave. A little further on the drug took effect. Balmayne brought the body back and carried it down the garden to the motor car waiting at the back. I saw all this; then I had an inspiration. With my ornamental hairpin I slashed open two of the tyres of the car, so that it was impossible to take the old man away. It was too risky to carry him back to the roadway where they left him, so they had to bring him back to the house and trust to luck for the rest."

"And you say you saw all this?" Bruce asked.

"Every bit of it. Gordon, put your ear down close to me. They were going to murder that poor old man in the garden. It took all my courage and all my nerve to appear at that moment, because they might have done me a mischief also."

Hetty ceased to speak for a moment. The recollection of what she had gone through overcame her. Bruce kissed her tenderly.

"But I managed it," Hetty went on. "When the critical moment came I was astonished at my own calmness. They suspected nothing. I was merely out there because I had a headache and could not sleep. So I saved that man\'s life. It was some time after that I lost my nerve and telephoned for you."

"Are there more horrors to come, dearest?"

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