Angel made no reply, but placed the hat carefully on the mosaic floor of the hall. “If,” said the lawyer, “before I open the safe, there is any question you would like to ask, or any legitimate objection you would wish to raise, I shall be happy to consider it.” “I have nothing to say,” said Angel. “Or you?” addressing Jimmy. “Nothing,” was the laconic answer. “Or Miss Kent perhaps----?” Kathleen looked him straight in the face as she answered coldly-- “I am prepared to abide by the action of my friends.” “There is nothing left for me to do,” said the lawyer after the slightest pause, “but to carry out Mr. Connor’s instructions.” He walked to the foot of the steel stairway and mounted. He stopped for breath half-way up. He was on a little landing, and facing him was the polished block of granite that marked where the ashes of old Reale reposed. Pulvis Cinis et Nihil said the inscription. “‘Dust, cinders and nothing,’” muttered the lawyer, “an apt rebuke to one seeking the shadows of vanity.” They watched him climb till he reached the broad platform that fronted the safe door. Then they saw him pull a paper from his pocket and examine it. He looked at it carefully, then twisted the dials cautiously till one by one the desired letters came opposite the pointer. Then he twisted the huge handle of the safe. He twisted and pulled, but the steel door did not move. They saw him stoop and examine the dial again, and again he seized the handle with the same result. A dozen times he went through the same process, and a dozen times the unyielding door resisted his efforts. Then he came clattering down the steps, and almost reeled across the floor of the hall to the little group. His eyes burnt with an unearthly light, his face was pallid, and the perspiration lay thick upon his forehead. “The word!” he gasped. “It’s the wrong word.” Angel did not answer him. “I have tested it a dozen times,” cried the lawyer, almost beside himself, “and it has failed.” “Shall I try?” asked Angel. “No, no!” the man hissed. “By Heaven, no! I will try again. One of the letters is wrong; there are two meanings to some of the symbols.” He turned and remounted the stairs. “The man is suffering,” said Jimmy in an undertone. “Let him suffer,” said Angel, a hard look in his eyes. “He will suffer more before he atones for his villainy. Look, he’s up again. Let the men in, Jimmy, he will find the word this time--and take Miss Kent away as soon as the trouble starts.” The girl saw the sudden mask of hardness that had come over Angel’s face, saw him slip off his overcoat, and heard the creaking of boots in the hall outside. The pleasant, flippant man of the world was gone, and the remorseless police officer, inscrutable as doom, had taken his place. It was a new Angel she saw, and she drew closer to Jimmy. An exultant shout from the man at the safe made her raise her eyes. With a flutter at her heart, she saw the ponderous steel door swing slowly open.