At two o'clock the last door in the east ante-chamber gave way before our resolute advance and I stood victorious and dusty in the little recess at the top of the last stairway. Beyond the twentieth century portieres of a thirteenth century doorway lay the goal we sought. I hesitated briefly before drawing them apart and taking the final plunge. As a matter of fact, I was beginning to feel ashamed of myself. Suppose that she _really_ had a headache! What an uncouth, pusillanimous brute I-- Just then, even as my hand fell upon the curtains, they were snatched aside and I found myself staring into the vivid, uptilted face of the lady who had defied me and would continue to do so if my suddenly active perceptions counted for anything. I saw nothing but the dark, indignant, imperious eyes. They fairly withered me. In some haste, attended by the most disheartening nervousness, I tried to find my cap to remove it in the presence of royalty. Unfortunately I was obliged to release the somewhat cumbersome crowbar I had been carrying about with me, and it dropped with a sullen thwack upon my toes. In moments of gravity I am always doing something like that. The pain was terrific, but I clutched at the forlorn hope that she might at least smile over my agony. "I beg your pardon," I began, and then discovered that I was not wearing a cap. It was most disconcerting. "So you _would_ come," she said, very coldly and very levelly. I have a distinct recollection of shrinking. If you have ever tried to stand flatly upon a foot whose toes are crimped by an excruciating pain you may understand something of the added discomfiture that afflicted me. "It--it was necessary, madam," I replied as best I could. "You defied me. I think you should have appreciated my position--my motives--er--my--" She silenced me--luckily, heaven knows--with a curt exclamation. "Your position! It is intensely Napoleonic," said she with fine irony. Her gaze swept my horde of panting, wide-eyed house-breakers. "What a noble victory!" It was quite time for me to assert myself. Bowing very stiffly, I remarked: "I regret exceedingly to have been forced to devastate my own property in such a trifling enterprise, madam. The physical loss is apparent,--you can see that for yourself,--but of course you have no means of estimating the mental destruction that has been going on for days and days. You have been hacking away at my poor, distracted brain so persistently that it really had to give way. In a measure, this should account for my present lapse of sanity. Weak-mindedness is not a crime, but an affliction." She did not smile. "Well, now that you are here, Mr. Smart, may I be so bold as to inquire what you are going to do about it?"