“No, no,” she exclaimed hoarsely, “you must not go out there!” “Indeed, I must, and I am going.” He tried to shake her off, but she only tightened her hold. “If you must--here,” and as she spoke she produced from under her skirt a small automatic pistol, pressed forward the safety-bolt, and slipped the weapon into his hand. Then she released him. Noiselessly he stepped across the room on the thick carpet, placed his hand carefully on the door handle, turned it very slowly and gently drew open the door. As he did so a streak of light, as if from an electric torch, shone into the room. The old man hurried out on to the landing with wonderful agility, but the light had vanished. He switched on the electric lamp at the head of the stairs. Nowhere was anybody visible. Glancing quickly in every direction, and with his finger on the trigger of the automatic, he crept cautiously down the stairs. Presently the woman, who had now ventured a little way down the stairs after him, heard him moving in the hall. Soon she heard the spring baize door, which opened on to a passage leading to the kitchen quarters, open with a squeak, then shut with a dull thud. For a minute she waited, hardly breathing. There could be no doubt that somebody besides themselves must be in the house. Yet how could anybody have entered, seeing that since early in the evening both front and back doors had been securely bolted and locked? She was trying to summon courage enough to follow her companion, when a sound just behind her made her turn with a cry of alarm. CHAPTER V. BEHIND THE DOOR. A tall, slim man of aristocratic appearance, dressed in a tweed suit and with his hat on, stood at the head of the stairs. He had a walking-stick in his right hand, in his left an extinct electric torch. “I think you will remember me, Madame Lenoir,” he said quietly. The woman stared hard at him for a moment, then a look of recognition spread over her face. “Ha, Milord Froissart!” she exclaimed in a tone of relief. “Ha, but you frightened me, you frighten us both. But how did milord come in? And what is it you want so late at night?” “I want to see your partner, Alix Stothert. Why has he gone downstairs?” “To see who might be there, milord. We thought we heard somebody in the house, so he go down to search about. And it was only you? Then why did you not say?” “Because when he opened the door I saw a pistol in his hand, so I thought he might shoot before he recognized me. Listen, I hear him.” The baize door in the hall had opened and shut again, and Stothert now stood at the foot of the stairs, looking up in amazement. “Lord Froissart!” he exclaimed. “Well, of all the wonders!” He came quickly up the stairs, and a minute later the two men and Camille Lenoir were together in the room from which Stothert and his companion had just emerged.