So he sat in his office this night and faced the situation in an agony of spirit that was more than fear. For this was no unscrupulous, light-hearted villain. An accusing conscience was ever with him, and every fresh descent in crime meant for him a worse present hell of mental torture. He felt that it was idle to hope now, even for a short reprieve. Clients were suspicious. In a day or two at most all must be known. Disgrace and a felon's doom were staring him in the face. It would be impossible for him to raise even sufficient funds to escape from England to some country where extradition treaties were unknown. Carew realised all this. He had forced himself to look through his _Autumn 1898_ LIST OF NEW & RECENT BOOKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN MILNE AT 12 NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON The Express Series. This Series is designed to meet the taste of readers who desire a swiftly-moving, well-written, dramatic tale, of moderate length, without superfluous descriptive or other literary "padding," but with continuity and action from the first page to the last. It contains only specially-written and selected stories, mostly by well-known writers, and each volume consists of about 224 pages, crown 8vo. The First Edition, for the Library, is bound in red cloth, with gilt top, and published at 2s. 6d. The Second and subsequent Editions are issued in handy form for the Pocket or the Train, in stout cardboard covers, illustrated in colours, at 1s. _The following have been published:--_ I. THE ROME EXPRESS. By Major ARTHUR GRIFFITHS. [_Sixth Edition_ II. A GIRL OF GRIT. By Major ARTHUR GRIFFITHS. [_Just published._ III. A DESPERATE VOYAGE. By E. F. KNIGHT. [_Just published._ _CURRENT LIST._ A Desperate Voyage. A Desperate Voyage. By E. F. KNIGHT, Author of "The Cruise of the Falcon," "Where Three Empires Meet," etc. A novel by the well-known _Times_ war-correspondent and author, describing the escape of an absconding debtor from the river Thames in a twenty-eight ton yawl, and his subsequent desperate experiences by sea and land in the South Atlantic. 224 pages, crown 8vo, red cloth gilt, gilt top, uniform with the above, 2s. 6d. A Girl of Grit. A Girl of Grit. By Major ARTHUR GRIFFITHS, Author of "The Rome Express." An Anglo-American story of a gigantic scheme of fraud and attempted abduction. 217 pages, crown 8vo, red cloth gilt, gilt top, 2s. 6d.