"Order her to come back," said the woman who was with Hawkshawe; "I want her to attend on me." "So she shall," was the brutal reply. "Here, Ma Mie!" he shouted, but there was no answer. He got up and staggered to her room. It was empty, but from the open window he saw her figure as it flitted down the road, and a wailing sob reached his ears. "By God, she shall come back!" he yelled, and, bareheaded as he was, reeled out of the house, followed by the mocking laughter of the she-devil within. * * * * * They had just dined, and Peregrine, leaning back in his chair, was listening to a plaintive little melody played by Phipson on his fiddle. Phipson fiddled; he did not play the violin, but his fiddling was very sweet and good to hear. He finished his little air with a flourish, and, resting the instrument lightly on the table before him, said, "I wonder you don't play something or other; it is a great distraction!" Jackson had no time to answer; almost as the words left Phipson they heard footsteps rushing up the stairs, and Ah-Geelong's voice raised in expostulation. The next moment Ma Mie burst into the room. She held in her hand a bundle of papers, which she flung before Jackson. "There," she half screamed, "I give him up; he is a double traitor! O Hawkshawe, Hawkshawe!" "Yes, Hawkshawe, Hawkshawe!" answered a mocking voice, and Hawkshawe stepped in, holding Ah-Geelong out at arm's length before him with a grip of iron. He shook the Chinaman like a rat, and, flinging him behind him, sprang straight at Ma Mie and struck a terrible blow at her. It was well that Phipson saw what was coming and hit up Hawkshawe's arm. The next moment the madman had flung himself on him, and the two rolled over together. "He's choking me, Jackson!" and Peregrine woke up as from a dream. With the assistance of Ah-Geelong he managed to free Phipson, but it took the united efforts of all three to hold the maniac down. Hawkshawe, when he found that he was overpowered, lay perfectly still for a moment, a white foam round his lips and his eyes shifting nervously about in their deep sockets like those of an ape. He then said quite quietly, "Let me up; the game is played out. I can do no more." Ah-Geelong gave a warning glance, and whispered to Jackson, "Plenty dlunk." But both Peregrine and Phipson felt that he would attempt no more violence, and, ordering the Chinaman to stand back, helped him to rise, which he did slowly, and then glared round him with his restless, fiery eyes. "Where is my wife?" he asked, and then they saw for the first time that Ma Mie had gone. The thought that she had escaped him seemed to rouse him to fury again. "Devil!" he shrieked, and made a dash for the door. Peregrine and Phipson were before him, however. "For God's sake, sit still and pull yourself together, Hawkshawe!" said Phipson. He looked at them and, throwing his head back, laughed, and his voice was as the howl of a beast.